


Red-y or Not

by FireFaceOutlook



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, M/M, UT Sans x UF Sans - Freeform, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underfell Undyne, Undertale Sans x Underfell Sans - Freeform, kustard - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-01-01 00:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12144894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: *U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS 1 ATK 1 DEF*...was he dead...?  it was so dark...





	1. Una-Void-able

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Wow, another story! What am I doing?! I've already got three Undertale ones currently being worked on, not to mention all the One Piece ones. I hope you guys enjoy it anyways. I've had this sitting around for a while, so I figured I might as well give it to you. Besides, who doesn't like Kustard?**

“YOU LITTLE PUNK!” Undyne roared as she gave chase, spears launched one after another, each one sinking into the ground closer and closer to Sans' heels. 

Sans definitely hadn't meant to nod off while stationed in the Hotlands, the farthest place from Papyrus' protection, but nightmares had plagued him the night before and he'd been so exhausted... He certainly wasn't tired now, terror and adrenaline lending him energy he usually didn't have. But his luck never held out for long; Undyne released an enraged shout and suddenly one of her spears glided more accurately. Sans only felt pain and felt his 10/1 HP drop suddenly to 0.7/1.

 _holy shit, she really intends to kill me,_ he thought distantly.

Self-preservation took over as he stumbled and Undyne closed the distance between them with a victorious snarl. Sans leapt through one of his shortcuts right before the webbed hands could make contact.

Once inside the Void, all of his senses dulling, he realized that he hadn't chosen a destination. It didn't happen often, but sometimes he ended up in situations such as this where he lingered in the Void for indeterminate amounts of time. Due to the Void not existing within the boundaries of space and time, he could spend days in the nothingness without even knowing it, yet exit into his world only a few seconds after he disappeared from it. It was so, _so_ stupid for him to take a shortcut right before another monster's very eyes, especially someone as volatile as Undyne, but he was tired and he'd leave the aftermath of his mistake for Papyrus to deal with. Right now, he needed a place to lay low. Maybe he could hide out at Grillby's – the fire elemental was one of the rare few who would help him out without expecting something inordinate in return. But as he tried to picture the bar, his memories went fuzzy and no tear in time and space appeared. He tried multiple places afterwards – Snowdin, the True Lab, the doors to the Ruins – but each one failed.

“Dammit, give me someplace to go!” he shouted into the darkness. It was a little disconcerting how his voice sounded in the emptiness – like he had water in his skull, or his words were being consumed by the pitch black space.

The Void seemed to rippled around him, as if alive, and he shuddered at the feeling. A wispy cord of red magic appeared before him, leading off to the distance, and then he felt a tear appearing somewhere. Grumbling softly, Sans followed the trail, sporting a limp that he didn't pay attention to, since he couldn't feel the pain anyway. Once he reached the end of the cord, standing in front of the tear, he went through it without hesitation. If he was lucky, he'd end up at home or in Grillby's back room so he could just sleep for a week. He wasn't expecting his foot to hit empty air, but by the time his situation registered in his mind, he was already tumbling over the edge of a cliff on the side of a towering mountain.

  


Alphys often took strolls through the forest between Mount Ebott and Ebott City. It was so peaceful, with birds singing and the breeze rustling the leaves and the chattering of squirrels in the trees. She'd never thought she'd get a chance to witness any of it personally, yet here she was, with her friends, above ground. And they'd never have to go back to the underground again.

Ever since the freedom of Monsterkind, thanks to the determination of Frisk, humans and monsters made great strides in maintaining a friendly relationship. Sure, there were humans who thought they were better off when monsters weren't amongst them, but they were few in number. Monsters took to integrating themselves in their new society. Papyrus and Undyne, and the others of the Royal Guard, were given positions in the human police force to ensure the safety of monsters from hate groups and to help make Ebott City an all around secure place to live. King Asgore ran a flower shop, despite his technical retirement, and Toriel stayed home with Frisk. Alphys was given her own lab on the outskirts of the city and while Sans stuck to running hot dog stands when he could muster up the energy, he occasionally popped in to see what she was up to or even to just watch some anime with her. Yes, life above ground left little to be desired, and she loved every second of it.

It was at this point, as Alphys was drawn out of her musings by another lovely breeze, that she noticed that everything was silent. There was no sound from any of the animals she'd usually hear so close to the mountain, like deer and foxes. It made her a little nervous, but it also piqued her curiosity, so she continued forward, though much more cautiously. As she reached the base of the mountain without encountering anything foul, and tentative chirps began filling the air again, she breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe she was just being a little paranoid. She turned around to head back to her lab when she caught sight of a flash of color out of the corner of her eye. When she looked over, what she found was fluffy-looking white fur, stained red in some places, peeking above a bundle of rocks at bottom of the mountainside.

 _A-an injured animal?_ she wondered as she crept closer.

She held her breath, just in case it was dead and smelled bad, but when she rounded the side of the rock pile, she gave a wheezy gasp, coughing as she released the pent up air in her lungs. That was no animal. Draped across the large boulders was a skeleton monster. Alphys was absolutely sure there were no skeleton monsters around except Sans and Papyrus, and eerily enough, this new one looked a little like Sans, minus the scary fangs and dark clothes and the cracks on his skull that were – oh, that was a lot of bone marrow! Alphys felt nauseous, but she reached up and patted her cheeks firmly. This was no time for her to freeze up. This monster obviously needed help. She stepped forward and as she grabbed ahold of the jacket, pulling the skeleton closer to herself, she couldn't help but CHECK him.

  


***U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS 1 ATK 1 DEF**

***...was he dead...? it was so dark...**

  


“H-hold on,” she said firmly, finally getting him off of the rocks and propped against her. He wasn't heavy, but Alphys also wasn't very strong, so she couldn't just lift him like Undyne would've been able to. She slung his arm around her shoulders and began heading back towards the lab, bearing his unconscious weight. “Y-you're going to b-be alright. J-just hang on...Sans.”


	2. Welcome Aboveground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Those bandages are the o-only things keeping your skull in one p-piece.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Because if I'm going to bring in the pain, I might as well go all the way, right? I was _planning_ on posting this after midnight, because that meant technically a day had passed since I posted chapter 1, but I fell asleep. So here it is now! I hope you enjoy!**

When Sans woke up, he felt like he'd been thoroughly thrashed by Undyne, the stupid mutts of the Royal Guard, and over-exhausted his use of magic. He was in so much pain, both physically and internally, but that wasn't really anything new. He slowly opened his eye sockets, discovering that only his right one was listening to him and there was a blinding light that forced him to close it again anyway. He wondered if he made it home and his bro dumped him on his bed, then left his light on, just to punish him for being an idiot – he wondered if falling had just been a dream. He tried to call out for Papyrus, but all that escaped his throat was a groan.

“O-oh, you're a-awake!”

Sans stiffened. The voice was familiar and _very_ unwelcome. He heard footsteps padding closer from somewhere off to the side and in that moment, he realized he was laying on an uncomfortable bed, not his well-worn mattress, and it smelled like lab chemicals. He was in the lab. As the footsteps neared him, he sat up, despite the pain that surfaced from multiple places on his body, and opened his eye. Alphys looked shocked, and that gave him enough time to try and summon magic – 'try' being the key word. He found himself curled up in agony, his head feeling like it was being slowly crushed between two stones.

“wh-what did you do to me, you crazy bitch?” he managed to rasp out.

“Wh-what? I-I-I didn't...”

He turned a dark glare on her, silencing her, but looking at her again caused him to pause. Alphys had a pair of oval glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose instead of large swirly glasses to highlight her insanity. She was wearing a buttoned-up white lab coat instead of wearing it open to showcase a black and red dress. She was sweating as much as usual, but she was trembling in fear.

“you... who are you?”

“M-my name is Doctor Alphys,” she stammered, fiddling with her fingers.

He gave her a hard stare and she couldn't meet his eyes. His mind went back to the multiverse theories that he and a coworker talked about a few times before the Core Incident that caused Sans to quit his job as a scientist. It appeared that they may have been more than just theories because there was no way his Alphys would be a wimp when she had the upper hand on him (for once). 

“Y-you're really l-l-lucky you landed near my l-lab.” The new Alphys wrung her hands, cowering under Sans' suspicious glare. “Y-your fibula was, u-uh, shattered by the spear...” She waved her hands at a nearby table and upon it was _his_ Undyne's spear, a dead grey since it was no longer attached to her magic. “It almost c-cleaved your t-tibia in h-half.” She appeared to be even more stressed. “I-I don't understand h-how Undyne could d-do such a thing...”

Sans didn't bother trying to explain that it wasn't the Undyne of her world who did it for two reasons: one, he didn't particularly care about easing the fears of people he knew, much less complete strangers, and secondly, he had a feeling she'd bombard him with a plethora of questions he wasn't up to answering. It'd been a long time since he donned the mind of a scientist. Instead, he began to take stock of himself.

Throwing the thin blankets off of his lower half, he found, to his relief, that he was still in his normal clothes, with just his socks, sneakers, and jacket missing. (He'd be more upset if his collar hadn't been sitting snugly around his cervical.) His leg was splinted and bandaged around the tibia and fibula, where Alphys had said the damage was and where Sans remembered the spear going through. So she wasn't lying about that. Well, he supposed this scientist might be too cowardly to try lying to a monster she knew could dust her. Next, he raised a clawed phalange to his skull, finding thick layers of bandages around his left eye, arching over his frontal bone and covering almost the entirety of his parietal bone.

“what happened here?” he asked gruffly, causing her to jump. It didn't surprise him, considering the only thing he's said to her was a demand for her name and calling her a derogatory term.

“Y-you fell down th-the mountain. You m-must've hit more than a f-few boulders, e-even before you reached the bottom.”

Sans still couldn't quite believe that they were currently on the surface, which he hadn't been to since Frisk reset, but he had _seen it_ before everything went dark – the sky, bluer than anything in Waterfall could've ever hoped to be. However, he had more important things to be concerned about.

“it's annoying...” And so far proved to be detrimental when it came to using his magic. “can't i just take it off?”

His claws were already tensed, ready to tear through the weak material.

 _“NO!”_ Alphys shouted, sounding so much like his world's Alphys that he flinched and dropped his hand immediately. Alphys shrunk back as well, meekly explaining, “Those bandages are the o-only things keeping your skull in one p-piece.”

He must've had a fresh look of skepticism on his face because she approached him warily, reaching for one of his hands. He let her take it and guide it to the back of his skull. He shuddered when his claws made contact with the a rough crevice carved into his bone, which disappeared beneath the bandages and ended mere centimeters from his spinal cord. He was a little afraid to find out the full extent of the injury.

Alphys let him go, stepping back and sighing. “I-I'll go get you some food. Y-you must be famished.”

Sans watched her step through a door across the room and once he was sure he was alone, he brought his phalanges to his chest, coaxing out his soul. It hovered above his palms, glowing dimly as his stats crawled across the surface.

**1 ATK**

**1 DEF**

**0.1/1 HP**

He should've died when his skull fractured. Running a thumb over the cracks that webbed across the inverted heart, turning it more and more grey every time he looked at it, he frowned. He should've died a long time ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: If you have any questions, let me know. Also, for the sake of this story, Papyrus was a good, if not somewhat rough and strict, brother, and Sans didn't have any major scars like you'd see in some fanart until he universe hopped. Falling down a mountain definitely breaks bones, and I figured I might as well make it effect his magic somehow, so there you go -- major scarring and it extends from around his left eye. _Also..._ You know what, no, you'll find out in the next chapter. See ya!**


	3. Finally Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS 1 ATK 1 DEF**   
>  ***he's alone, the silence is nice and peaceful**   
>  ***...he doesn't like it**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Sorry for the wait! I was writing and rewriting a chapter for another story, haha! (And for those of you also reading Beautiful Souls, sorry it's taking so long, but I think the wait will be worth it. The chapter's already over twice as long as all the others... >.<) Anyway, enjoy this chapter! (Classic) Sans should be showing up next chapter, thanks for being patient!**

It took Sans a whole three days to convince Alphys that he wasn't going to turn to dust by standing and moving around. Even then, she watched him like a hawk (from a short distance away) as he slid off of the bed for the first time in however long it'd been since he fell into her world. He was a little shaky on his feet, he had to admit, but he just held onto the bed until his legs stopped trembling. He took a step away from it and his injured leg almost buckled under his full weight. He stubbornly stumbled to the closest wall, which he had to lean against, breathing heavily from the pain. Not only was his leg protesting the movement, but his head was pounding like crazy. Alphys approached him with crutches he hadn't realized that she was holding. He reluctantly accepted them with a soft grumbled of 'thanks.' Alphys just smiled, looking a little more at ease in his presence than she had since he woke up.

“U-um, would you like a shower? S-since you're up and all...”

He barely had to consider it – a shower sounded _great_. He tamped down his eagerness and tried for nonchalance as he shrugged.

“I'll get p-plastic to cover the bandages, and you might be able to fit into my clothes...” She actually laughed a little at his skeptical look. “I'm big-boned, too, S-Sans.”

He couldn't exactly disagree, so he let her lead him to the bathroom, then she disappeared as he stepped inside. He turned the shower on as hot as it would go as he waited for her return. Alphys knocked on the open door and came in, setting a yellow turtleneck and blue jean-shorts on the counter by the sink, as well as plastic wrap, before she left, closing the door behind her.

With Alphys gone, Sans leaned the crutches against the wall next to the door and balanced haphazardly on one leg as he pulled off his shirt. His shorts dropped next and he nudged the clothes to the side with a couple awkward hops. He rested a hand on his collar as he leaned against the sink, but the thought of taking it off made him begin to sweat, so he just grabbed the plastic wrap and blindly guided his phalanges as he covered the bandages thoroughly, then did the same to his leg before stepping under the hot, steaming spray of the shower.

The initial heat made him hiss slightly, but without skin to hinder the process, he got used to it rather quickly. There wasn't any bleach in sight, so he couldn't exactly give his bones more than a light scrub with the soap available to him. He lingered in the shower for a while, and apparently that concerned Alphys, because she was knocking on the door after who knew how long. It woke him from the daze he'd found himself in.

“A-are you okay, S-Sans?”

“'m fine,” he grunted, shutting off the water.

He heard her shuffle away from the door and he sighed in relief. He didn't like that she was hovering over him like he was a baby bones. He stepped out of the shower, hobbling to the sink and snagging a towel from underneath it. He took his time drying himself off, making sure every individual ribs and vertebrae was at least mostly dry. He pulled on the jean shorts first, grimacing when they barely fell halfway down his femurs. He was only as tall as Alphys, but his legs were longer than hers. He gave an irritated sigh, but pulled on the turtleneck. It was a little difficult to get over his head without screwing up the bandages, but he managed. He was much happier with the shirt than the shorts, since the sleeves went past his carpals. He just needed his jacket to make the whole thing perfect. And his socks. He pulled off the plastic, stuffing it into the trash by the sink, and used the crutches to leave the bathroom. Alphys jumped, backing away a few steps and avoiding his eyes, and he gave another sigh. It seemed that he wasn't going to be getting privacy around the lab. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, he mused as Alphys led him to the bed again so she could look under the bandages and make sure the wounds weren't getting infected.

  


By the time Sans had been in the lab for a full two weeks, Alphys had really grown on him. He'd never had anyone treat him with so much kindness, not even his brother (though he tried), except Frisk, who taught him to appreciate every ounce of kindness thrown his way. They were smart for a kid. With little else to do in the lab after exploring it and its various nooks and crannies, he usually stuck to hobbling after Alphys and watching her work on experiments. Sometimes they sat together and watched anime, which she geeked out about in a very Alphys manner. (Even his Alphys had an affinity for loving anime, though she didn't often get a chance to watch it with the King breathing down her neck.) Alphys returned his jacket at some point, along with his own shorts, and she let him keep the turtleneck when he admitted to liking it. Besides, skeleton monsters didn't need to change their clothes too often due to their lack of bodily fluids.

Over the time, his tibia had healed with nary a scar, leaving just his fibula to finish growing back. Sans was impressed, but not really surprised, despite the various scars strewn all over his bones. In his world, monsters didn't have time to worry about keeping wounds clean unless they were life-threatening, so infections came and went and left nasty scars that would never fade. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his skull. Alphys assured him that the back, which received the least damage from the fall, was sealing closed, but because the rest of it wasn't looking so good, it would leave a nasty scar. He took his first look into the bathroom mirror at some point after she rewrapped the wound when she was done cleaning it. One of his fangs had been dislodged, leaving a dark space when he closed his teeth. His whole left eye socket was covered, but the crack led from his gap to the bandages. Fortunately, it seemed that the tooth had stopped the crack from spreading across his lower face.

“I-I can see about h-having a replacement m-made,” Alphys assured him later that day from inside the bathroom as she got dressed.

She was apparently going on a date with Undyne. The fish monster had decided that two weeks straight of not leaving her lab was too much, and she was kind of right. Sans felt a little guilty to have kept her from her friends for so long, but of course he didn't let that show. As she prepared to walk out the door, she suddenly turned around and tossed him a blocky cell phone.

“I, uh, upgraded it so i-it had all the latest features. I-in case you needed me while I'm out.”

Sans didn't think he'd get so desperate as to call Alphys back to the lab, but the sentiment was touching all the same and he couldn't help the softening of his permagrin.

“thanks, al.”

She looked shocked and he realized this was the first time he'd used her nickname. He felt his cheeks bones warm as she smiled back at him.

“I-if I don't get back f-for dinner, I-I'll see you tomorrow.”

“don't rush back on my account.”

She waved and left. The door clicked shut behind her with an air of finality and for the first time in weeks (maybe even in his whole life, since he'd always had Papyrus), Sans was completely and utterly alone.

  


***U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS 1 ATK 1 DEF**

***he's alone, the silence is nice and peaceful**

***...he doesn't like it**


	4. Found Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"hey, pal."_   
>  __  
>  **" W h a t ' s   u p ? "**   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Eri Cheshire (Eritan_Miitan) as thanks for their kind comments and to ensure they have a marvelous day!!**

A month had passed since Sans came to this new universe and he could tentatively put Alphys on his (extremely short) list of friends, just below Frisk and Grillby. His fibula finished reforming in that time but still had to be tightly bandaged until the calcium it was made of strengthened. It was good enough that he no longer needed crutches, but he discovered a new problem without them: a change in depth perception. It wasn't a big problem, but it got annoying when he clipped his shoulder while turning a corner or stubbed his shoeless toes on furniture when it was on his left. To distract himself from his body's minor betrayal, Sans began to put his pun arsenal to use. Alphys didn't always approve of his timing.

“why can't you appreciate my sense of humor?” he asked with a cackle as she swatted his arm with the lab reports she was writing while they rewatched Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. Sans was splitting his attention between the movie, bugging Alphys with puns, and reading about horoscopes on his phone.

“B-because it's _atrocious_ ,” Alphys replied.

Sans gave another short laugh before falling silent as he got absorbed in his thoughts. Within the last week, Alphys had begun looking into a way to replicate the phenomenon that brought him from his world to hers. That meant he had to explain to her about his shortcuts and when she asked if her Sans could do the same, he gave a half-hearted shrug. He wasn't going to throw himself (technically) under the bus. She'd asked how he got the ability and for the first time since he woke up in this new world, he'd snapped at her to mind her own business. They'd had a couple tense days before they apologized to each other and began avoiding the subject.

If Sans was being completely honest with himself, he didn't really want to go back to his world. He would, of course – for Papyrus; for Frisk and Grillby –, but now that he'd gotten more than a day's worth of being freed from the underground, it would be difficult to go back again. Because of that, he was kind of glad that he was stuck hiding in Alphys' lab.

“H-hey, are you o-okay?”

Sans glanced over at Alphys, who seemed to have finished her paperwork.

“yeah.”

She was quiet for a moment and Sans anticipated her next words before she even spoke.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He sighed but before he could reply – and he didn't know if he was about to say 'yes' or 'no' –, there was a loud knocking sound.

“I-I'll get it.”

Alphys got off the couch and went into the front room to answer the door. Sans slumped down on the comfortable cushion beneath him and weighed the pros and cons of falling asleep where he sat and risking Alphys waking him to continue her interrogation or walking all the way to his room – an emptied supply closet – where his even more comfortable, unmade bed awaited him. A completely different decision was made for him when he heard a loud, mostly familiar voice from the front room. He got to his feet with great reluctance and approached the door to the other room. He eased it open enough to look out. He felt like he should've been less surprised to find that his brother's double was on the opposite side of the spectrum when it came to appearances.

“I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU'RE DOING WELL, DOCTOR ALPHYS. AH, BUT ENOUGH PLEASANTRIES. I HAVE BROUGHT YOU SPECIAL SPAGHETTI, MADE BY YOURS TRULY – THE GREAT PAPYRUS – AND YOUR DATEMATE, UNDYNE!”

...and personality as well, it seemed. Same loud voice, though, if not quite as rough. And then there was the passion for making pasta for others... Alphys looked flustered and mumbled something. Sans strained to hear it better, but when he couldn't make anything out, he decided he was done snooping for now. He made to move away from the door when he felt the familiar buzz of magic from behind him, sending chills up his spine.

Alphys had warned him off of using his magic until his skull healed properly, but his self-preservation instincts were ingrained far too well thanks to the condition of his world. His left eye flared beneath the bandages as he whipped around, but a scorching pain enveloped his fractured skull, leaving him on his knees, gasping for air while locking his gaze on fuzzy pink slippers over white socks in front of him.

_what the..._

“hey, pal.”

Sans slowly looked up and found a single blue eye light gazing back over a strained permagrin.

**“ W h a t ' s   u p ? “**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: I know this chapter is shorter than all the others are, buuuuut (Classic) Sans makes an appearance finally. Yay! Plus, the ending just builds suspense, doesn't it? >:D See ya next chapter!**


	5. Tentative Peace Offering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> __  
>  ***U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS LV 5 HP 3/1**   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: You guys waited patiently, and here it is! The next chapter of this story! Let's see how these two smol skeletons get along, shall we?**

Sans was fairly certain that his double was trying to get him to start a **FIGHT** , but without his magic on his side, he was very much inclined to avoid that. (He was really glad for that hindrance because he didn't like to fight.) The door to the front room slammed open, almost hitting him as Alphys rushed into the room.

“Sans!” she cried, and he wasn't sure if she was scolding him for trying to use his magic or the other him for trying to start something.

“woah, sorry, alphys,” the new Sans said, white eye lights darting up to her. “i didn't realize this was a friend of yours.”

“U-uh, yeah,” the lizard monster mumbled. “Th-this is, u-uh, Red...?”

_red?_ The newly dubbed skeleton rolled his good eye light. _how original._

“red, huh?” Even the Sans from this world sounded skeptical. “let me help you up, _buddy_.”

Blue magic grasped his soul, prodding at the cracks aligning the surface as he was lifted to his feet. When he was released, he swayed, but didn't fall as Alphys steadied him with gentle hands against his spine and ribcage. He shot her a grateful glance before meeting Sans' eyes, which were unnervingly hollow.

“let's talk.”

  


Three skeletons and a scientist dinosaur sat down to have a chat. To Red, it felt like the beginning of a bad joke (and not the kind he usually enjoyed cracking). Alphys and Red sat together on the living area couch while Sans and Papyrus took over the two dining room chairs pulled across from them.

“W-w-well, on the br-bright side, Red, n-now you don't have to h-hide in the lab a-anymore.” Alphys was sweating anxiously, avoiding looking at any of the other monsters.

Red understood that Alphys thought that was a good thing, but it took him a month to begin opening up to her, and even then, she barely knew anything about him. Just the thought of being around other monsters and humans made him begin sweating too. To distract himself, he studied Papyrus, who was sitting across from him. Up close, he resembled Red's brother a lot more than he though, but there was definitely key differences. No fangs or claws, his scarf was in better shape, his battle body wasn't as sharp, and he had a white and red color scheme instead of black and red. All in all, it was like comparing a bubbly puppy to a fighting dog. On the outside, anyways... If this Papyrus held even a fraction of the strength that Red's brother had...

“why don't you tell us about yourself, _red_ ,” Sans suggested tersely.

Sans was making it pretty obvious that he didn't like or trust Red, and Red couldn't say he felt any differently about his alternate self. And when he didn't like someone, he tended to be difficult.

“hm... well, i don't like salad or eye contact.”

Sans' eye sockets went empty again and his permagrin twitched down at the corners for a second. Red's own grin grew, even when he saw Alphys frantically shaking her head at him out of the corner of his eye.

“you're **s o   f u n n y** ,” Sans gritted out.

“i try. if you give me a minute...i think i can make this worse.”

“No--” Alphys began.

“my name isn't red. it's sans.” Red met Sans' eye socket. “i'm you. crazy, isn't it?”

Everything was silent, everyone was still, then Red was diving off of the couch, just barely avoiding being impaled by blue bones.

“SANS!” Alphys and Papyrus cried, both speaking to different skeletons.

Sans was on his feet and looking a combination of pissed and sheepish under his brother's disapproving frown. Red grimaced as Alphys pulled him up and began looking him over with a concerned expression. Red _hated_ when she did that.

“i'm fine,” he sighed. His knees ached from the landing, but his health hadn't dropped.

“You almost weren't!” she yelped. “I-if those bones w-would've touched you wh-while you were moving...”

“Sans, you can't just go around attacking out new friends,” Papyrus scolded.

“he's a threat.”

Red knew Sans was **JUDGE** ing him, with his left eye light flickering blue and yellow, and he knew what he was seeing.

  


***U̵̷͡N̨҉̵͝D̛͜͜͢Ȩ̛͞R҉҉̸͡F͏͠Ȩ̶͡҉L̸̨͢͡L̡ SANS LV 5 HP 3/1**

  


Red wanted to return the favor because there was no way Sans was completely innocent, but he couldn't. But he wasn't about to let this monster criticize him for surviving in the hell that was his world.

“you've only ever had to judge kindness and bravery. we both know how that ended,” Red said, permagrin down-turned.

Both Alphys and Papyrus looked at Sans in confusion as he blanched. Red offered a humorless smile in response to that reaction.

“in my universe, it's primarily kill or be killed. our king isn't trying to free us; he collects human souls to assert his power. he enjoys watching his subjects fight and starve and fall down. and i have the 'privilege' of dusting monsters who come to take his life. and if i can't do it? he does it himself. after torturing them, of course. so i do my job, so at least they have a relatively painless death.”

All the others looked ready to be sick. Sans' white eye lights were back and mere pinpricks. Red shoved his phalanges into his pockets and looked away, beginning to sweat again under the combined gazes. He revealed a bit more than he meant to, but he had a habit of going a little overboard when he actually bothered trying to defend himself.

“Oh Red...!”

Papyrus suddenly scooped Red into his arms and, unable to summon his magic to shortcut away, Red simply tensed.

“I'm so sorry you had to go through that!”

Red's eye socket began watering against his will. No one ever tried to sympathize with him about his job. Undyne knew, but she hated him and thought him weak. Case in point, her attempt to murder him that led to his arrival in this world. Grillby had his suspicions, but Red made a point to keep him in the dark as much as possible so he didn't catch the king's attention. Asgore used him enough during the monster/human war. And there was no way Sans would ever tell Papyrus about the contents of his nightmares. 

Red blinked his eyes dry and squirmed slightly.

“put me down.”

Papyrus obliged easily enough and Red sunk further into his jacket once he was on his feet again.

“i'm goin' to my room.”

Alphys looked like she wanted to protest, but she didn't, and neither did the other two, as he turned and walked away.

“W-well, why don't you two st-stay for dinner? We can h-have the spaghetti Undyne and P-Papyrus made.”

“Sure!” Papyrus agreed. “If it's not a bother.”

Red groaned softly as he shut the door of his temporary bedroom behind him. Alphys hadn't let him miss a single meal since he got there, and she definitely wasn't going to start now. He was going to need as much sleep as possible to gain energy to be social again after that tense confession.

  


“Red? Hey, Red, i-it's time for dinner. A-are you hungry?”

Red whined as he was dragged out of slumber. He rolled onto his stomach and pulled one of the pillows over his head, fingers clenching the fabric tightly, but not tearing into it. He was careful to respect the things Alphys gave him. The door to his room clicked open and Alphys' signature footsteps – a little heavy, with the additional sound of her tail dragging behind her – approached the bed. The bed dipped as she pulled herself onto the edge. Red had a sudden surge of nostalgia at the feeling as her hand settled on his spine. It was at the very edge of his mind, just out of his grasp...

  


_“S͜͞a̢ns̶.͢.̧.͠l̵o̕o͜͢͟k͏̡͘ ̶͜a̸̕t͢ ̡m͡e̢͢͞,̴ ͘͠p͢l͘e̶̶a̧͢͟s̢e.̵͡”_

_Sans shook his head. He was sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, clutching the furry edge of his hood, keeping it pulled low over his face. He was trembling with the effort to not sob out loud, even as his tears stained his face in pale red streaks. The lumpy mattress he was on, in the depths of the True Lab, dipped slightly with additional weight, a gentle hand landing on top of his skull before sliding over the side, ending up on his shoulder and pulling him into a one-armed embrace._

_“i-i killed them... i-i didn't even hesitate,” Sans whimpered, voice cracking. “i don't want to be judge anymore, g̛͢͝҉̡.̷̢̕͜͠.̴͢͏̴̢.̛͞!”_

_“̷̴I͞͝ ̡͘k͢͠n͡͞ơw̷҉͜.̵͠ ̵I'̴̢̧m͟͏ s̵͢o̡͏r͘͟r̢̧y.̧”̵̢_

_They sat in silence for a while as Sans' tears slowed and eventually stopped. He leaned heavily against his companion, halfheartedly wiping at his face with his jacket sleeve._

_“̸͜͡Sa̷͝͝ns̡̛,̵̡͠ p͡l҉̸e̢a͜s̛̕ę͝-͝-͏”̴_

  


“--come eat something.”

Red broke out of his reverie at Alphys' words and slowly sat up, letting the pillow slide off of his head.

“alright, alright,” he mumbled, trying not to notice how Alphys' smile made him happy with his own decision. “stop mothering me.”

Alphys just laughed as they both slid off the bed. They left the room, Red shutting the door behind them, and they went to the dining area. Papyrus was serving out spaghetti on four different plates, while Sans sat slouched at the table in one of the chairs that'd been returned to its rightful spot. He glanced up when Red and Alphys entered the room, but he wasn't quite meeting Red's eyes. That was fine with the fanged skeleton as he chose the seat across from Sans, leaving the chairs next to his alternate open for Papyrus and Alphys.

“Dinner is served!” Papyrus announced happily as he set the plates one by one at the table, followed by glasses of milk.

It'd been a while since Red had milk – it wasn't a commonly available beverage in his world – so he went for that first, draining half of the glass. Then he set his sights on the spaghetti. He expected half cooked and burnt noodles coated in watery sauce covered in “edible” glitter or something, or, in simpler terms, something resembling his Papyrus' spaghetti. But he supposed that there were actual chefs on the surface and this Papyrus probably was able to take a couple official lessons on cooking. He took a bite and was pleasantly surprised by his first taste of correctly made spaghetti. (Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could remember eating something similar to it. Cooked by someone he was close to, who didn't mind Papyrus running around their work space on the days that Red wouldn't be home for hours and couldn't find a babysitter for such a feisty baby bones.)

“Is it good, Red?”

Red looked up when he realized he'd just been staring at his plate for a few minutes and found three gazes set on him. He ducked his head slightly, offering a slight smile.

“y-yeah, it's fine. thanks.”

Papyrus preened under the compliment and Alphys smiled. Sans watched him for a moment longer before dropping his eye lights to his near-empty plate of food. When they all finished dinner, Papyrus swept away the plates and glasses before heading into the kitchen.

“L-let me help you,” Alphys offered, quickly getting out of her seat to follow.

“Thank you, Doctor Alphys!”

That left the two Sanses sitting alone in silence while the third skeleton and the scientist chatted happily in the kitchen as they worked on the dishes.

“uh...”

Red looked up from an oh-so-interesting stain in the table at the single syllable uttered by his counterpart. Sans was looking around, obviously avoiding eye contact.

“...i'm sorry.”

Red was, to say the least, surprised.

“wh-what?”

Sans finally looked at him, grimacing. “you're right. i have no idea what you've been through, or what your universe is like. and...while i don't trust you, i shouldn't have judged you. so, i'm sorry.”

“o-oh.” Red picked at his phalanges under the table. He didn't often get apologies from others. The one he got them from most often was his brother, if he got too rough during their rare sparring sessions. Frisk and Grillby were pretty close behind, and he even got one from Alphys – his Alphys – before everything went to Hell. And there were a couple apologies from someone Red couldn't exactly remember. “well, it's fine,” he finally said dismissively, watching as Sans' wary expression dropped to disbelief. “it's not like you knew. i can't blame you for the way you reacted.”

If Red had been in Sans' shoes, he likely would've done the same, to be honest. Or...maybe not. A lot of monsters in Red's universe had higher LVs than three. But the whole 'not trusting him' thing was definitely mutual.

“still, let me make it up to you.” When Red simply shrugged, not looking like he cared either way, Sans rolled his eyes. _this guy..._ “do you like grillby's?”

After all, they were the same monster, just from parallel universes, so there had to be a Grillby's there too, right? Sans' thoughts were confirmed when Red's eye light lit up.

“what kind of question is that?”

Sans chuckled, relaxing in his seat. “well, since you no longer have to 'hide in the lab,'” he said, quoting Alphys from earlier, “i'll bring you out to grillby's some time. and hey, maybe you could even start a tab there.”

Red couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. “yeah, yeah that sounds great.”

At that moment, Papyrus and Alphys exited the kitchen area, Papyrus wringing out one of his gloves. Red was careful not to let his eye lights linger on the hole in the other's palm. He doubted Papyrus even noticed them.

“Well! I believe we've overstayed our welcome, Sans. It is nearly nine o'clock at night! We should leave and let these two get their much-deserved sleep.”

Red snorted softly to himself. He never went to sleep before one in the morning. It wasn't because he didn't want to – he loved sleeping and doing nothing more than anything –, but rather because he couldn't. He crashed when his body decided it wanted him to rest. That was all there was to it. Besides, if he let himself go out because of exhaustion, there was less of a chance of nightmares popping up. His nightmares were messy business for _everyone_ , and they happened more frequently when he tried to sleep than when he didn't.

“alright, bro,” Sans agreed easily, sliding out of his seat. “see ya later, red, alphys.”

“G-goodbye, Sans. Night, Papyrus.”

“bye,” Red replied simply.

He watched Alphys follow the two out of the room, likely seeing them out the door as a “gracious host,” and he got up from the table as well. Despite his earlier ridicule about Papyrus' assumption that they'd be turning in early, he was rather tired, despite his nap earlier. He shuffled his way to the living area just as Alphys returned.

“Oh, are you going to bed already?” Knowing his sleeping schedule, she sounded surprised.

“yeah. i think those two took the energy right out of me. i'm _bone tired_.”

Alphys tried to look mad in the face of his pun, but she couldn't do it and smiled instead.

“Alright. If you can't sleep, I'll be out here watching movies.”

He nodded and said 'goodnight' before retreating to his room. He crawled onto his bed, rolling himself up in his blankets, and he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Alright, here comes a very important question: should Red have a tail? I've seen a lot of fanart and even more fanfics where he has a tail, and, well, I wouldn't mind adding it in. If not, I'm fine with that, too. Let me know! It's up to you!**  
>  Edit: A majority of the votes went towards Red having a tail, so my apologies to those who didn't want one, it's gonna make an appearance in the story.


	6. Homesick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"I am homesick for a place I am not sure even exists. One where my heart is full and my soul understood."_ \- Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: There is mention of UF!Alphys experimenting on Sans in here, so before you move on, understand this: Sans has a tail, and Alphys is _not_ the reason. I can offer an explanation as to why he would have one, though. Gaster was a decent monster, as we found in the last chapter, but that didn't mean experiments weren't performed. The only reason Sans has such strong magic is because of experimentation with his own soul using the human souls of Integrity and Justice (aka, the reason he was forced to be JUDGE in the first place). Before that, with his 1 HP, he couldn't handle too much magic. It would literally burn him up from the inside, like how Determination makes a monster melt, so he used to sweat on a normal basis to regulate his magic levels. Because of that, Sans would have a tail to help defend himself, since his health was so poor and his magic wasn't strong enough to really protect himself if someone was to attack. Yes, his tail would be sensitive to being pulled on a crap, but it would also be strong enough to break someone's bones if he used it to attack. After he received a dosage of human magic and his magic levels shot up, his soul able to handle the increase in magic due to DT experiments (a story for another time...or another chapter), his tail was more of a weakness and hidden.**

A week passed since Sans and Papyrus' visit. Red honestly didn't expect his counterpart to really go through with his little peace offering, so it wasn't like he was on the edge of his seat waiting for some message that they'd be going to Grillby's (even though he really wanted a Grillby's brand burger and fries). During that time, Alphys had gone out with Undyne again and brought home a gaming system that she apparently usually just left at her datemate's house.

“I figured it'd get pretty boring here with nothing to do while I work or leave the lab, so this should keep you occupied.”

Most of the game systems available underground were pretty old, so Alphys had to show him how to use this new one. He caught on pretty quickly and that became his go-to hobby if he wasn't napping. Admittedly, a large majority of his “napping sessions” were actually “narcolepsy-induced pass outs”, but he hadn't yet done it in any weird places or moments, like while talking to Alphys or eating, so she hadn't yet caught on to his condition. In his eyes, that was a good thing – he didn't want her to worry about him anymore than she already was. It wasn't like his narcolepsy was too bad at the moment, anyway, since he'd been getting somewhat decent sleep.

He had managed to bribe his Alphys into making pills to curb the symptoms in return for doing her a favor, and one pill lasted a couple months at a time, so that's why it was just now wearing off. But he hadn't carried them around on him, since his universe's monsters were known for pickpocketing and he wasn't going to be Alphys' experiment again just to get more, especially when he didn't know what the hell she did the first time, so he didn't have the pills when he universe hopped. That meant his pills remained hidden away in his Papyrus' room, under the table that held his brother's action figures. Oh well.

Another week passed since his narcolepsy began creeping back into his life, and he was playing a game while Alphys was getting ready to go with Undyne again.

“Oh yeah,” she called out from the bathroom. “I forgot to tell you, Sans is coming to get you today to go to Grillby's.”

Red thought he was going to get whiplash considering how fast he looked over at Alphys, the sounds of his character dying playing as background noise. She gave a sheepish smile.

“S-sorry.”

He snorted as he shut off the gaming system and the tv.

“it's fine. i'm going to get dressed, then.”

He was just wearing his normal shorts and a tank-top, with his jacket halfway zipped over it, and his shoes. Alphys was struck by inspiration.

“I have a shirt for you to wear!”

Alphys seemed excited, so Red couldn't bring himself to say no. He just nodded as he got up and went to his room.

  


Alphys ran to her own room as Red went to his. She began rifling through the shirts hanging up in her small closet. When she and Undyne had gone clothes shopping forever ago, closer to the time they first were freed from the underground, she'd bought a shirt that she thought would fit Sans, but she kind of forgot to give it to him. However, it wasn't too much of a loss – it would benefit Red now. She found it and pulled it free from its hanger before leaving her room and going to Red's. Normally she would knock, but she was excited to see his reaction to the shirt, so she forgot. When she walked in, she nearly dropped the shirt. Red stared back at her, his eye light (which, over the last couple weeks, had begun gaining a red tint as his magic reserves slowly started rising from bottom of the barrel levels) shrunk down to a pinprick and his tank top hanging loosely from his fingers. But she hardly noticed since her gaze was focused on the section of his spinal column below his ribs – or, more specifically, the mass of thick bones curled around the thin bones that seemed to tighten the longer she looked.

“a-al...?”

Alphys had never heard Red stutter before except on the first day he woke up, when he was in pain from trying to use his magic. That made her drag her eyes up to his face and she felt her soul sink. Red looked _petrified_ , sweating heavily and tearing the shirt in his grip as he wrung it nervously between his claws. She could even see his bones trembling slightly. His reaction was making her nervous.

“R-Red, what i-is that?”

His eye light disappeared and he seemed to tense up even more until she thought his bones would crack from the pressure, then he suddenly slumped. The mass of bones slowly began unwinding from around his spine and before it even finished, she knew what she was looking at. It was over half as long as Red was tall and landed heavily on the floor with a clatter that made them both flinch. Alphys' scientific side wanted to take over because there were only three – no, two; of course there was only two, why would she think any differently? – skeleton monsters from her world and none of them had a tail; she'd known Sans and Papyrus for a long time (how long, exactly, was kind of fuzzy) and she knew for a fact that they wouldn't have been shy about showing off an extra appendage. However, with the way Red was watching her and curling in on himself, she held back the assault of questions on the tip of her tongue and offered a smile in an attempt to soothe him.

“Th-that's pretty c-cool. I-I didn't know skeletons could h-have full tails.”

He gave her a look of disbelief, but his surprise seemed to have overridden his fear for the moment and Alphys promised not to be pushy about his tail. She would let him tell her in his own time. His eye light returned and though his stance was still a little wary, he wasn't shaking anymore. Alphys remembered the shirt she had brought and held it up with a proud grin.

“Look what I have for you!”

His eyes scanned the front and his grin finally returned; it was small, but there. She offered it to him.

“thanks,” he mumbled, taking it after dropping his ruined tank top on the floor.

She nodded and left him to finish changing, shutting the door behind her. She paused for a moment outside his room, categorizing the tail as a touchy subject along with the origin of his shortcuts and finally registering just how scared he looked. She wondered if the fear had something to do with his Alphys. But she wouldn't ask. She went to sit on the couch and texted Sans as she waited for Undyne to arrive or Red to come out of his room – whichever happened first. To her relief, it was the latter.

Red joined her on the couch wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants she had given him a few days ago, since they were too long for her, and the shirt that read “You can't skele-run from my skele-puns.” He didn't have his jacket on and, to her surprise, the small bulge that she'd assumed was an ecto-stomach like Sans sometimes had, but turned out to be his tail, was gone. He noticed her curious look and glanced away, sinking down on the couch. She didn't want their friendship to go sour because of this, but she didn't know what to say. Sans' arrival interrupted her thought process for an apology.

  


Red looked up as Sans walked through the door and into the living room.

“sup,” he greeted, either not noticing or (most likely) ignoring the tenseness in the air. “you guys didn't hear me knocking, i guess, so i let myself in.”

“Sorry, Sans,” Alphys said, but her tone made Red think she might've been talking to him and not his counterpart.

“nice shirt,” Sans added, looking at Red.

“it's alright,” he replied with a slight shrug. He glanced over at Alphys and saw the corner of her mouth twitch up in a smile.

“ready to go? hope ya don't mind, but the kid's meeting us there.”

Red returned his gaze at Sans. After the stress from earlier, he really didn't want to go anymore -- he was too _bone-tired_ , but he _really_ wanted to eat some familiar, greasy food. “who?”

His double looked confused. “the human. frisk?” Did Red's world even have a Frisk?

“oh, that kid.” In Red's universe, “the kid” usually referred to Monster Kid – he was a troublemaker who was constantly trying to fight Undyne. “that's fine. and yeah, i'm ready to go.”

He stood from the couch, making to put his hands into his jacket pockets, only to remember he didn't have it on. Why did he make such a stupid decision? He settled for shoving his phalanges into his sweatpants pockets instead.

“cool. we're gonna take a shortcut, since you're not ready to fully integrate into society yet.”

Red was fairly sure he hadn't given any indication of feeling that way. He looked over at Alphys, who avoided his gaze, and withheld a groan. _she's just tryin' to help._

“sure. see ya, al.”

“Bye! H-have fun!”

Red though he saw worry cross her face as Sans' hand landed on his shoulder, but he didn't linger too much on it as he was pulled into the Void. Being the only one in his universe able to use shortcuts, he'd obviously never hitched a ride with someone who could do it too. He was understandably a little disorientated when they emerged back into reality.

“you alright, buddy?” Sans asked, looking a little too amused.

Red straightened and kept his middle fingered response in the depths of his pockets. He wouldn't want to piss off his only ride back to the lab. “just peachy.”

Sans walked through the door of the building they were in front of and Red followed close behind. There were a lot of monsters, and a couple humans, inside, and most of them called out greetings to Sans. It made Red feel a small knot of homesickness swell in his soul at the familiar atmosphere, if quite a bit less tense. No one was armed to the teeth or anticipating a fight...but they were watching him with unmasked curiosity. Instinct said to bare his fangs, but he'd already gathered that that wouldn't be the right response towards any of the monsters in this universe, so he hunched his shoulders and wished for his jacket instead. Sans led the way to the bar where a bright orange fire elemental stood across from where a small brunette child sat.

“heya, kiddo,” Sans greeted. “grillbz.” Frisk jumped off their stool to hug Sans; he returned the gesture with one arm and used the other to wave at Red. (Red didn't miss that his free hand was his left one.) “this is red. i figured i'd show him ebott city's finest eating establishment.”

Grillby made a couple gestures with his hands and Red vaguely recognized the movements as sign language, but he'd only just started learning it with Frisk in his world before he was removed from it, and Flowey usually translated for them. Besides, his world's Grillby could speak. He glanced over at Sans, who seemed to understand his problem and almost looked like he was going to let Red flounder.

“he says it's nice to meet you,” Sans finally said.

Red looked up in time to see a flaming hand being offered to him. He removed one of his hands from where it was buried in his pocket. Grillby's hands were warm, like the heat from a campfire; it was quite the difference from the paradoxical cold of the bartender he knew.

“nice to meet you too.”

Frisk peered at him from around Sans, looking curious, and he stared back. They were so similar, yet so different, to his own Frisk. They dressed brighter, there were less scrapes and bruises, and they weren't skittish at all.

“hi, kid.”

They waved, a smile lighting up their face.

“so,” Sans said. “let's eat.”

As Red had predicted, Grillby's burgers and fries were just as good as back home. He even let Red have a whole bottle of mustard to himself. Sans just laughed as he received a bottle of ketchup without even having to ask. Frisk, who sat on the other side of Sans, gave them both unimpressed looks as they pulled a box of apple juice out of their pocket and stabbed through the top of their straw.

“put our orders on my tab, grillbz,” Sans said when they finished.

Grillby nodded as he collected their plates and took them back to the kitchen. When he was gone, Red turned to Sans with an incredulous expression.

“he let's you keep a _tab_?”

“your grillby _doesn't_?”

Red scoffed at the thought of his Grillby letting _anyone_ get away without paying. “no way. if i don't have money, i have to wash all the dishes that piled up that day.” That only happened once, and it was the first time Red ever ate at Grillby's. Just thinking about it made his hands sting with phantom pain from the scolding hot water he had to use. It was before he became a sentry. After he got his jobs, he still didn't make enough to pay for Grillby's, not fully, but after they became friends, he was allowed a major discount that no one else had.

“hehehe.”

When Grillby came back, the three of them said goodbye and left.

“i'm gonna run the kid home. i'll be back for you after, 'kay?”

Red nodded and Frisk gave him a big smile that reminded him even more of his own human back in his universe before they were gone. Red leaned against the outer wall of Grillby's and waited. And waited. And waited. He was woken up by Grillby – he hadn't even realized he'd drifted off, damn narcolepsy –, who was bundled up against the cold and had keys in hand, obviously having just locked up. He signed something – all Red could make out was 'Sans,' and by the questioning lilt in Grillby's movement, he was asking where Sans was.

“i...” To his embarrassment, his voice cracked. He was tired and cold, his bones rattling softly. “h-he must've just f-forgotten.” Red knew it was a flimsy excuse even as he said it, because he knew himself, and Sans was no different from him. This proved it. Sans was waiting for the other shoe to drop, even though there wasn't one because Red had no plans on attacking someone or destroying something out of anger or frustration just because his double was an asshole.

He cleared his throat roughly, looking away as he blinked back the tears. Something heavy and warm settled around his shoulders, causing him to jerk in surprise. He looked up and found that Grillby had given him his jacket. He could see a faint, worried frown on Grillby's face and that broke dam – it resembled his Grillby's expression from every time he went to the bar after being in a fight that he didn't escape fully unscathed from, and his soul felt tight from the sudden overwhelming homesickness.

“i-i'm fine,” he choked out through tears at the panicked look the elemental was giving him.

Grillby placed a hand on his back and guided him to the curb, sitting him down before settling down next to him, keeping his hand where it was. When Red finally stopped crying, he was even more embarrassed than before.

“i'm sorry...”

Grillby just shook his head.

“c-can i borrow your phone?”

Grillby reached into a pocket of the jacket hanging around Red and pulled out his phone, handing it to him. Red tapped in Alphys' number, the only one he knew (besides his brother's...and grillby's...and frisk's...but they wouldn't help him here) and set it on speaker.

“R-Red?” Alphys' voice sounded groggy, like he'd woken her from sleep, and he felt a wisp of familiar self-deprecation rising within him – he should've toughed it out and just tried to walk back to the lab instead of wasting Grillby's time and bothering Alphys. “Are you okay? Who's phone are you calling from?”

“grillby's. i, um... i don't know my way back to the lab.”

Alphys was silent and when she spoke again, there was an undercurrent of anger in her voice that (he hoped) wasn't directed towards him. “I'll be right there.”

She hung up and Red passed the phone back to its owner. He fingered the edge of Grillby's jacket.

“you can go. i'll just wait here for her.”

Grillby shook his head and they sat together in silence until a car pulled up in front of them and the passenger door opened to let out Alphys.

“Red!”

She ran around the car to him as he stood slowly, Grillby rising beside him, and he let her hug him. When she released him, Red returned the fire elemental's jacket.

“i'm sorry, again. thanks for sitting with me.”

Grillby smiled and nodded as he slipped on his jacket. He patted Red's shoulder gently, then he was walking off down the street. Red let Alphys direct him to the car's back seat before she went around to sit up front again. A familiar golden eye looked back at him from the rear view mirror before Undyne turned to face him.

“Hi.” She offered him a toothy smile. “I'm Undyne. I've heard a lot about you!”

He offered a weak grin in return. “red.” He really didn't want to talk, and she seemed to realize that as she turned forward.

“So, am I driving you back to the lab?” she asked Alphys, and Red sunk down in his seat. Alphys was probably planning on spending the night at Undyne's again, and he just ruined that.

“i-i'll be fine at the lab by myself,” Red offered. “i, uh, still need a ride back, though.”

Alphys glanced back at him and finally nodded after a few moments.

“Let's drop Red off. I'll go back to the lab tomorrow.”

Red was relieved that she was letting him have his way with this little reprieve from being around anyone. After being dropped off, he waved with a grin from the doorway as they pulled away from the lab, then retreated inside. His smile dropped as soon as he was behind closed doors and he made a beeline straight for his room. He changed into his shorts and the turtleneck that had been Alphys' at some point. He sat in the middle of his bed, skull resting against his knees and tail, freed from his leg, looped around him, resting over his feet. He idly picked at both of his tibia with his claws, venting his frustration and anger on the bone until bone marrow stained the blankets. He went to sleep without cleaning up, not having the energy to move from the bed, and decided to just deal with it in the morning.

In the morning, he was woken up by Alphys' panicked shouting (from seeing so much bone marrow, he later learned), which sent him into a panic attack induced by leftover stress from last night. When he could breathe again and remembered where he was, Alphys sat him down in the bathroom to clean and wrap his legs, and he decided he wasn't leaving the lab ever again. He kind of wanted to go home now – at least in his world, actions like Sans' would've been expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: In case you're having trouble picturing it, Red's tail is not like a thin little cat's tail. Envision Alphys' tail, but made of bones and much longer. Red's tail is made of thick bone; it would be useless as a means of attack if it was too small. It's long enough that most of it drags on the ground -- but remember, Red is pretty short, so that's not saying much. Also, it extends directly from his spine; it begins where his tailbone would've been had he not had a tail. Hopefully that makes sense. Let me know if you liked this chapter! Also, what do you think of Sans? (I promise I don't hate him. He just has a lot of issues after going through resets forever and being betrayed by Frisk during multiple Genocide Runs.) Passive aggression is not the right way to deal with your problems, Sans! Poor Red, too.**   
>  **Also, if you wanna give gifts to comfort Red next chapter, let me know in your comments and they'll be delivered to him in the story itself. I promise. :3 Give this poor skeleboi some love!**


	7. Getting Back Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Did he really want to be made a fool again?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Just be forewarned -- this is a very relaxed chapter, so I'm sorry if it doesn't live up to the previous chapters. It's all about love and comfort here, so just enjoy and be ready for the next one to move the story forward. Also let me know what you think. Thanks for sticking around so long!**

For the first few days back at the lab after the Incident, Red hid away in his room, drowning in his own self-loathing. At first he'd been angry at Sans for being an asshole, but then he reasoned with himself that he should've seen it coming. After all, Sans had hated him from the moment he first laid eyes on him. So he moped on his bed in his shorts and turtleneck, not eating or drinking or listening to Alphys' pleas for him to take care of himself. In fact, it took Undyne, who'd been staying at the lab since Alphys found him bleeding from his legs, manhandling him into the shower for him to remember that despite Sans' actions, there _were_ some people who cared for him in this new world. He had their feelings to consider, too, so on the fourth day, Red finally came out of his own free will sometime in the late afternoon, dragging along a blanket that he'd been given the day he had his legs wrapped up; he'd slept on the couch for most of that day and awoke with it on him, and he kept it with him since.

Alphys was, of course, very excited and even shed a few tears of joy. Undyne did a double take at his tail, but since he knew she was used to a tailless Sans and Papyrus, seeing a skeleton with a full tail was probably very new to her; she'd seen it once when she carried him to the shower, but it would take more than a single look to get used to it. The two monsters were sitting in the kitchen, which smelled like chocolate. Honestly, the scent was a little overwhelming, since sweets were a rarity in his world, but he liked chocolate well-enough, so it didn't really bother him once he got used to it. He sat at the table with them, pulling his tail into his lap to have something to fiddle with so he didn't start picking at the scabs on his legs or adding new chips to his arms. Red finally spoke up to ask what the scent was coming from and winced along with Alphys at how scratchy his voice was. As she got up to get him a drink, Undyne answered his question.

“Alphys and I were stress cooking.”

Setting a glass of water in front of him, Alphys explained further. “Ch-chocolate has a chemical called t-tryptophan, which releases serotonin into the body.”

Now, Red wasn't a chemist by any means – quantum physics were more his thing –, but even he knew what serotonin was: a type of neurotransmitter that was dubbed a “mood lifter.”

“Al figured it might make you feel better.”

“Oh! A-and I went out a bought you something, t-too.”

Alphys left the kitchen and Red sat there, feeling lost. He knew she was worried, but not enough to make him foods that were meant to help him feel happy. He glanced over at Undyne, who was studying him openly.

“Alphys really likes you. So I guess we ought to be officially introduced.” She offered a toothy grin that made him begin to sweat, then held out a hand. “I'm Undyne.” 

“uh, s-- red.” He put his hand in hers and managed to prepare himself enough to not hiss aloud when his phalange was practically crushed as it was shaken enthusiastically. 

“I'm sorry for what Sans did,” she said when she freed him to cradle his sore bones to his chest. “I don't know what came over him. He's never acted that way towards anyone, as far as I can remember.”

He shrugged, dropping his gaze to the table. He still wasn't quite ready to talk about it. There wasn't really that much to talk about, anyway. Alphys came back into the kitchen with a folded clothe that she offered to him. When he took it and shook it out, he found that it was a shirt of some kind that had also kind of looked like a hoodie. The back was longer than the front.

“I-it's a tunic hoodie...thing,” Alphys explained. “It's not really long enough to cover your tail...b-but I figured that if even a l-little bit of it was hidden, it might h-help you get used to keeping it out.”

His eye light darted up to her and she offered him a small smile.

“Y-you don't have to hide it from us. We won't j-judge you for it.”

He wasn't quite sure about keeping his tail out like it was normal for him to have one, but he did know it was unlikely that he was stepping foot out of the lab willingly again, so maybe he could enjoy having some freedom with his extra appendage. It wasn't like it was going to disappear just because he disliked it. Besides, Alphys looked pretty nervous and eager for his reaction, and he didn't want to disappoint her.

“thanks al. uh, i'll go put it on now.”

He got up again and returned to his room, setting aside the blanket for the moment. He examined the shirt, running his claws over it carefully, afraid he'd rip the fabric. It was as nice a thought as it was unnecessary. He sighed and pulled off his turtleneck, tossing it into the small pile of clothes accumulating next to his bed, then put on the new shirt. Alphys might have been a little off about the length of the thing. It must've been made specifically for human adults, because while he wasn't exactly swimming in it, the tail of the shirt laid out pretty generously over his tail. In fact, when he looked behind himself, he could only make out the tip of the bone.

_it wouldn't hurt to keep it on,_ he decided, exiting his room once more.

He was about to return to the kitchen when there was a knock on the front door. He glanced at the kitchen doorway, but Alphys and Undyne didn't seem to have heard. The scent of chocolate had grown stronger and they were talking lowly about something. He decided not to interrupt, going to see who was at the door. He didn't even consider if it might have been Sans until he had the door halfway open, but by then it was too late to pretend he hadn't heard anything, so he went through with the motion. To his surprise, he found himself looking at a completely different skeleton, accompanied by a small human.

“Hello, Red!” Despite his smile, Papyrus seemed concerned. “Frisk and I decided to come bringing peace lasagna!”

Frisk smiled and signed something that Red didn't quite catch, but they held up a book that very clearly read, “A Guide to Learning Sign Language,” on the front. 

“Red, wh-who's at the door?” Alphys called.

Red stepped to the side, offering a strained smile. “come on in.”

Alphys' eyes went wide as the two entered the lab and after she pointed out the living area for Frisk and told Papyrus that the lasagna could go to the kitchen, she approached Red.

“you _told them_?”

She wrung her hands. “I...might have posted it on UnderNet.” Before Red could react to that beyond a sharp hiss of air between his teeth, she continued, “I o-only tagged them and T-Toriel, I p-promise!”

Red wanted to sink into the ground and implode all at once. He hadn't wanted anyone to get involved in his problems, and now they had been shared with the instigator's brother and two of his closest friends (if Sans had the same relationship with Toriel and Frisk that Red had with his own during his short time on the surface).

“I-I...” Alphys looked like she was about to start crying and didn't that make Red feel like shit. “I just w-want you to be o-okay.”

Red sighed and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Alphys in a hug that she clearly hesitated to return. (He had to remind himself that it wasn't because he was undeserving of such an action, but that he had a thing about physical contact up until this point. And he _still_ did, but...Alphys was his friend.)

“it's fine. you were just trying to help.” He pulled away and offered a weak smirk. “i'll forgive ya if you give me lots of chocolate.”

In an instant, any sign of tears were gone and she was smiling. It made Red's soul feel a little less tight as she grabbed his sleeve.

“Come and see what Undyne and I made!”

He let her pull him to the kitchen, where Frisk was trying to sneak some of the snacks lining the counter while Papyrus and Undyne were talking excitedly over his lasagna. Alphys led him to one side of the counter, pointing to each one as she named them.

“Th-these are ch-chocolate eclairs, and theses are chocolate c-cream puffs. Oh, and these--” She led him to where Frisk was trying to hide the fact that they were chewing on some of the treats. “--are oreo balls!” Red swore he saw stars in Alphys' eyes; those must've been her favorites.

She released him in favor for going to try and settle Undyne and Papyrus down before they began wrecking the kitchen in their enthusiasm. Frisk tugged on Red's shirt and when he looked down, they held up a small container in their hands that he hadn't noticed before; it must've been hiding behind the book. When he opened it, he found butterscotch-cinnamon pie. He hadn't had one since the surface; even then, Toriel didn't make it often, and it went to Frisk more than anyone else.

“heh, thanks, kid.”

“Hey you two, get over here and get some of this lasagna!” Undyne ordered.

After getting their fill of food and chocolate treats, the group of five moved out into the living area, accompanied by mugs of hot chocolate. Undyne and Alphys sat on the couch and watched some kind of action anime that the former had brought over. Papyrus, Frisk, and Red took over the floor in between the two pieces of furniture. Red let Papyrus take over the book of puzzles and mazes that Frisk somehow snuck in with the sign language book while he sat with one of the many hoarded newspaper crosswords that Alphys saved “for a later date” that never came. As he worked, he didn't even notice a certain brunette's gaze darting between the puzzle book and the tail that was peering out from under the tunic-hoodie, the tip curling and uncurling in a manner much like a cat's when its interest was caught. They fingered the bows in their hair and got an idea.

  


“G-goodbye,” Alphys said, giving Frisk a hug. “T-tell Queen Toriel th-that everything is fine here.”

Frisk nodded, moving on to receive their bone-crushing embrace from Undyne. Red leaned against the doorway as he watched them.

“Red? If I may have a moment?”

Red glanced up and stepped over to join Papyrus.

“I'm truly sorry for what happened between you and my brother.”

“nah, it's fine,” he said, trying to shrug it off.

“Sans wanted to offer his apologies as well.”

Red's eye socket widened, sweat beading on his skull. He really didn't want--

“When he brought Frisk home, he sat down to rest for a moment and fell asleep, that lazy bones. I had to drive to Miss Toriel's house and pick him up! If I had known you were still waiting for him, I would've brought you home. I scolded him very heavily for what happened.”

Papyrus, no matter the universe, wasn't one to lie. So... So it was all a _misunderstanding?_ And yet Papyrus came to cheer Red up about something he had absolutely _no reason_ to be upset about (even though he didn't know it was a mistake). But he should've suspected... After all, Sans had used three shortcuts, and even on a good day, Red could usually only manage two, due to using a lot of his energy during his jobs. (And if he knew Sans, which he did, in a way, since it was like knowing another side of himself, then Sans was working multiple jobs, even on the surface, to keep Papyrus housed and happy.)

“Sans would also like to let you know that he would understand if you didn't want to be friends, and--”

“Papyrus, you better bring the kid home before Toriel has your head,” Undyne called.

Papyrus jumped, bones rattling slightly. “Oh, right, i-in a minute!” He leaned down – considerably, considering Red's height compared to his own – and pulled Red into a hug. “I will see you later, then. Have a good night, Red.”

Papyrus exchanged farewells and hugs with Alphys and Undyne as well before he and Frisk were jumping into his car and pulling away from the lab. Red watched them go in a sort of detached manner. He stuffed his hands into the shallow pockets of his tunic-hoodie and reentered the lab with Undyne and Alphys.

“i think i'm gonna hit the hay,” he decided aloud, faking a yawn. “catch you two in the morning.”

The datemates were settling down to watch a movie and gave distracted 'goodnight's as he went to his room. He pulled off his shirt as soon as he was out of view, and crawled onto bed, curling with his back to the door. He was such an _idiot_. He dug the heel of his phalange into his eye socket, reveling in the slight staticky pain that accompanied disrupting the flow of magic for his eye light, and only pulled his hand away when his phone buzzed under his pillow. He pulled it out, vision a little blurry as he turned it on. There was a little number icon on his mostly-unused UnderNet app and when he opened it, he found that it was for a multitude of friend requests. Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, Frisk, Toriel (even though they'd never even met!), and... – he sucked in a sharp breath – _...Sans_. He accepted them all, and as soon as he had, there were messages popping up. From Sans. He held his breath as he opened it, expecting the worst despite Papyrus' words.

  


**_legendaryfartmaster:_ heya.**

**_legendaryfartmaster:_ i know you're probably really mad at me.**

**_legendaryfartmaster:_ i hope papyrus told you what happened.**

**_legendaryfartmaster:_ i really didn't mean to leave you out to dry.**

**_legendaryfartmaster:_ if you don't mind, i'd really like to get a second chance.**

**_legendaryfartmaster:_ i know a great place to get some snacks, but don't let me bug you if you're not interested.**

  


Red stared blankly at the messages, his mind running a thousand miles. Did he really want to take the risk? After all, Papyrus could've been covering for his brother. That's what Red's Papyrus did; he lied if it meant making others happy. But...Red wouldn't have put in this amount of effort for a lie. Which meant Sans likely wouldn't either. So did he accept or not...? Did he really want to be made a fool again?

  


**_red-y_or_not:_ i'm always interested in snacks; count me in.**

  


He could practically hear his brother berating him in the back of his skull. But as he got more comfortable in his bed and caught a glimpse of a red bow tied to the end of his tail – _cheeky, this world's kid_ –, he figured that he could try for that kindness thing Frisk was always trying to teach him about.

  


**Omake:**

Papyrus walked through the door, slamming it shut behind him with a sigh. A familiar head of brown hair revealed itself over the back of the couch, yellow petals not far behind.

“Did you find him?” Flowey translated for Frisk, more out of habit than necessity, since Papyrus could understand sign language just fine.

“No...” the tall, darkly clad skeleton muttered, dropping onto the couch next to the child and the flower. “The last person to see him was Undyne. He used a shortcut to get away from her. I just finished searching the entire area of Waterfall.” He'd already covered every inch of Snowdin and the forest outside of the small town. “I'll look through Hotland tomorrow.”

He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands with a rough sigh. Frisk's mouth downturned at the corners, their own gaze dropping as they lifted a hand away from Flowey's pot and placed it on Papyrus' back. When they found out that Sans had gone missing, they'd decided to linger at the skeleton brothers' house. They didn't know a lot about the laws of time and space, but they knew enough from Sans' rare but passionate spiels that if they caused a RESET while someone of their world was absent, then that would erase all signs of their existence.

_“it's what happened to someone i knew a long time ago,”_ he'd explained. _“long before you ever came here.”_

Frisk had had a hard time getting past Undyne in previous timelines, and they didn't want to risk dying and being forced to RESET while Sans was gone.

“Can't you just track his magic?” Flowey asked.

“I tried,” Papyrus growled tiredly. “Sans has been everywhere in the underground multiple times, though; no matter where you go, there's always some of his magic lingering in the air.”

_“We'll find him,”_ Frisk signed, leaning against a dark shoulder. _“I hope he's okay...”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Red would like to thank:**   
>  **TwoTone for the comfort blanket**   
>  **Alanis_Strife for the tunic/hoodie and hot chocolate**   
>  **knifehappypsycho for the oreo balls (and Butts. Pie)**   
>  **Barwench81 for the lasagna and sign language book**   
>  **viczen for the puzzle and crossword books**   
>  **cassjo for the homemade eclair/cream puffs**   
>  **MaybeNextTimeBetter for the bow**   
>  **Also, isn't it kind of sad that Red doesn't think he's kind? Poor skeleboi. Plus, what are you thoughts on Sans now? XD You weren't expecting that, were you?**


	8. Once More, With HoPe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He sighed. Who was he kidding? He brought nothing but trouble for anyone he was associated with._   
>  __  
>  **T h e y   w e r e   b e t t e r   o f f   t h i n k i n g   h i m   d e a d . . .**   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Alright! Let's see how this second night out for the Sanses goes. Hopefully better than the last, right? Let me know what you think! Also, just so everyone knows, any gifts you've sent in _will_ be given to Red eventually in the story. I promise! Anyway, enjoy!**

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Undyne asked, her expression twisted into a scowl. “He _abandoned_ you in the middle of a city you've _never been to before_.”

Red gave a long sigh, checking his phone for the eighth time. It was six in the evening. This had to be the third time in less than two hours that Undyne had tried to convince him to call off the hang out with Sans. Alphys had tried earlier, but she gave up after he refused to do as she asked the first time. He knew they were just worried, but he was a grown monster and he could make his own decisions. He was tired of being babied because he overreacted last time. (Not that he could blame them _completely_ ; he did resort to chipping out of frustration, but that was kind of normal in his world.)

“i'll be fine,” he said. “i'll have my phone with me this time. if anything bad happens, i'll call you or alphys immediately, alright?”

She groaned and fell back next to him on his bed, almost sending him flying off of the mattress.

“ _Fine_. But that punk better not even _think_ of doing anything funny.”

“yeah, yeah.”

He had on shorts and was currently holding up the hem of his shirt, coaxing his tail around his spine. As far as he knew, only Undyne, Alphys, and Frisk were aware that he had a tail, and Frisk didn't strike him as someone who would give away his secret, so he wasn't going to reveal it to anyone else. He didn't _trust_ anyone else. (And as nice as Frisk was, he didn't trust them completely either.)

“Red!” Alphys called from elsewhere in the lab. “Sans is here!”

Undyne and Red exchanged looks.

“You go on.” She offered him a strained smile. “I'm gonna hang here.”

He grimaced – he wouldn't admit it, but he would've felt a little more secure knowing he had Undyne to back him up –, but he pulled his jacket off of the floor, putting it on and zipping it up, before leaving his room. He found Alphys waiting in the front room, a small frown on her face, and he opened the front door and walked out. What he found surprised him. Sans was standing outside, leaning against a navy blue motorcycle and fiddling with his phone; instead of his normal blue jacket, he was wearing a black leather one. He looked up and grinned at Red's starstruck expression.

“you like it?” Sans grinned proudly, patting the bike. “i saved up forever to get it.” He pulled a helmet – it was black with flames on the side – out of his dimensional box and tossed it to Red. “paps bought that for you. safety first.”

Red managed to catch the helmet, though the momentum made it collide with his forehead. Red pointedly stared at Sans' lack of a helmet while rubbing his head and was promptly ignored. Red rolled his eye and was about to pull the helmet on when he came across a small problem: his bandages. He was fairly certain that putting on and pulling off the helmet would mess them up. He lowered the helmet in his hands and turned around to face where Alphys stood in the doorway. She was looking down and wringing her hands, obviously trying to avoid glaring at Sans. Like Undyne, she didn't quite believe that he was sorry.

“al?”

Her gaze rose and Red gestured to his bandages while holding up the helmet.

“O-oh...”

She approached him and reached for his head, and he bent his knees slightly so she could reach the bandages easier. She slowly began unwrapping his skull. It felt strange to no longer have them on, and the sensation of Alphys' fingers against his skull was even odder. He couldn't really feel them as they prodded around the edges of the crack; he was only registering the pressure as she pushed down.

“W-well, it's doing much better...” Alphys bit her bottom lip as she pulled her hands away to take the helmet from him and gently ease it onto his skull. The fabric on the inside cushioned his head, but it also kind of irritated the crack. “Just make sure you don't hit your head, a-and don't use your magic _at all_.”

“yes, mom,” Red replied, rolling his good eye light. “don't worry, i'll be fine.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Have fun.”

He smiled at her and when he turned to Sans, the other skeleton was straddling his bike and still messing with his phone.

“we going?” Red asked as he approached his double.

Sans sat up and put his phone in his pocket. “yep,” he said, popping the 'p.' “climb on, pal.”

As Red mounted the motorcycle behind Sans, he could feel excitement swelling in his soul. While he was underground, his brother mentioned a few times that he dreamed of driving on the open roads in a cool sports car and feeling the breeze blowing through the hair he didn't have, but Red had read books and watched movies that put motorcycles in such an awesome light that he wanted one to be his vehicle above ground. Sans was living his dream (in more ways that one).

“alright. hold on tight,” Sans warned once Red was situated.

“wh-what?” Red asked, startled. “no way--”

Sans started the bike, pulling away from the lab at a high enough speed that it wrenched a yelp from Red as he almost fell over backwards and caused him to throw his arms around Sans' waist, crushing himself against the other skeleton's back. He didn't hear it over the sound of the wind ripping past them – not to mention that the helmet muffled his hearing as well –, but he felt the rumbling of Sans' laugh against his own ribs.

_asshole,_ Red thought.

When they pulled onto the main road that led out of the forest, Sans slowed down a little.

“hey, you can loosen up a little,” Sans said. “i promise you're not going to fall off.”

It took a moment for Red to comply, but he finally sat up and moved his hands to grip the sides of Sans' jacket. He looked around and found that while he'd seen the forest the few times he stepped outside for fresh air at the lab, he'd never actually bothered to examine much of its sights. As they traveled through it, he noticed the sun beams shining through the leaves, breaking through the shadows on the forest floor and showcasing patches of flowers with butterflies or even animals, like deer and squirrels. Red decided that next time, he'd accept Undyne and Alphys' offers for him to join them on walks through the forest.

Then the treeline ended and they were entering the city. Red couldn't help openly gaping at all the humans, the monsters intermingling in some of the crowds, and there were so many buildings. They were so much taller than anything that could be built underground. It was kind of unnerving, and Red couldn't help the tension that traveled through his bones. His claws tightened around Sans' jacket and his shoulders hunched subconsciously.

“you doin' alright back there?” Sans called back.

Red eased his grip again, not because he cared about whether or not he accidentally shredded Sans' jacket, but more to ensure he didn't piss his double off. (After all, he very much would like to avoid another situation like the last time the two of them went somewhere.)

“just peachy,” he grumbled.

Sans didn't pry, something Red was grateful for, and a couple more minutes of riding ended in front of a building about as large as Grillby's was. Sans parked the motorcycle and got off. Red slid the helmet off of his skull, passing it to counterpart before getting off the bike as well. When he saw the name of the food place they were at this time, his eye light vanished.

“o-oh, _that_ was the pun...”

Sans grinned. “yep. what, you have a problem with spiders?”

“tch, yeah right,” Red huffed, sweating slightly. He eyed some humans that passed by with more than a couple glances his way – or more specifically, towards his skull, likely taking notice of the crack. (He wasn't sure how bad it was; he had yet to actually see it.) He pulled his hood up self-consciously, taking comfort in the fur around the edges that brushed softly against his face. “don't worry about it. let's just go in.”

Red was fairly certain that if Sans was really sorry about the Grillby incident, he would've chosen a different place if Red had just asked, but Red was in no way a coward. 

_how bad could it be?_ he thought to himself.

He ate his own words when they actually went inside. The bell tinkling cheerily above their heads did little to offset his mounting panic when he saw _her_. This world's Muffet was dressed in more frills and pink than the one from his world, her hairstyle a lot less wild, but other than that they were spitting images of each other. When she looked up, five eyes blinking at him and Sans, he froze. She gave a wave with two of her left hands, the other four passing pastries to customers or accepting money. Sans waved back and, after nudging Red to gain his attention, led the way to a nearby table. Red claimed the seat facing the door and Sans sat across from him.

Almost as soon as they settled, a group spiders drop from the ceiling, hanging from strands of webs, with two menus. Red felt himself pale as a spider got too close to his hand for comfort, but he managed not to swat at it like his every instinct screamed for him to do. He barely glanced through the menu, choosing a random treat and drink as Sans took much more time to make his decision, and he managed to relax slightly when the spiders finally retreated.

“okay,” Sans finally spoke, making Red jump. “look. i'm sorry for what happened at grillby's. i really am.”

Red gave him a semi-vacant look, unsure why he was bringing it up at all. Maybe apologizing face to face was something this universes' occupants were prone to do, but he didn't find it necessary when he already apologized over UnderNet. The fact that he apologized at all had surprised Red, since apologies were rare in his world.

“when i brought the kid home, i, uh, _was_ gonna stay there for a little bit, just to make you squirm.” Red was kind of annoyed at that admission. “i guess i was more tired than i thought because i sat on tori's couch and didn't wake up until the next morning.” He looked a little sheepish as he added, “i completely forgot we went to grillby's together until papyrus showed me alphys' undernet post.”

Red sighed, crossing his ankles under the table and running his fingers through the fur of his hood.

“whatever. it's in the past.” He really just wanted the whole situation to not be brought up anymore. It already messed him up when it happened; he couldn't push it to the back of his mind if he kept getting apologized to and shit.

Sans paused. “you're taking this surprisingly well.”

Red smirked and was going to make some kind of sarcastic remark, or maybe even crack a joke to diffuse the tension he was feeling and maybe change the subject completely, but an eerie laugh threw his thoughts completely off track.

“ _Ahuhuhu~_ Hello, dearies,” Muffet greeted. “It's been a while, Sans. How's Grillby?”

She spoke Grillby's name with a certain disdain in her tone that was familiar, though less murderous. She set their orders on the table; Spider Cider and a Spider Donut for Red and a bottle of honey and some sort of cupcake that likely was also made of and from spiders.

“he's doing good. business is really booming for him; he's _on fire_.”

Sans winked to punctuate his pun and two of Muffet's eyes rolled while the other three focused on Red. He began to sweat under the attention, and she certainly didn't miss that fact if the smile she gave him was any indication.

“And who might you be?” She offered and hand, and he reluctantly shook it.

“r-red, ma'am...” he mumbled.

Sans looked a cross between surprised and amused. “he's a friend of mine who lived in the capital.”

Muffet seemed happy enough with that reply and left them to their meals with a cheery, “Enjoy the food! _Ahuhuhu~_ ”. Once she was out of sight, Sans pinned Red with his gaze, permagrin stretching wider across his face.

“'ma'am'?” he repeated, snorting when Red kicked his leg and slumped down in his seat.

“shut up,” he grumbled, picking off part of his Spider Donut and flicking it into his mouth, avoiding the other's gaze.

Sans was silent for a moment and Red was grateful for that as he took a sip of his Spider Cider. It was good, even thought it was a little too sweet for his tastes. He preferred mustard any day.

“...you're shaking.”

Red glanced up at Sans, then down at his hands clasped around the cup in front of him. They were trembling imperceptibly, causing ripples to cross the liquid within. Red cursed under his breath and forced his hands to be still.

“i'm fine.”

He continued eating to avoid having to talk more, and Sans seemed to respect his silent request as he also began eating. When they finished, spiders dropped down to collect their plates, cup, and honey bottle, and Red cringed slightly when one came close to landing on him. Sans left gold on the table as he stood, and with Red following close behind, they left Muffet's. Once they were outside, where the street lights were beginning to come on, Sans passed him his helmet. He was about to accept it when he heard something. It came again just as he thought he was hearing things. He turned away from Sans and stepped into the entrance of the thin space between Muffet's and the store next to her's. From the shadows, a glint of red stared back at him. He crouched, hearing Sans walk up behind him and shifting slightly so he could see the other out of the corner of his good eye, and as his sight adjusted to the shadows, he could make out a small creature with black fur. It wasn't a dog, that was for sure. So what...

“it's a cat,” Sans said in surprise from behind him.

Red was surprised, to say the least. He thought cats were big fat things like Doomfanger. He reached out and plucked the thing up by the scruff of its neck, pulling it into the light. When he got a better look at it, he noticed that its front legs were bent at a weird angle, almost as if the bone was broken, but running a finger across the leg, he didn't feel any bone shards or gaps. It must be deformed.

_heh, you and me both, buddy,_ he thought bitterly. He stood, cradling the little cat to his chest, and Sans wordlessly passed him his helmet and led the way back to the bike.

“so, uh, what's your deal with muffet?” he asked. “i thought you didn't have a problem with spiders.”

“i don't.” Red tugged his hood off after making sure there wasn't anyone around to stare and pushed the helmet onto his head. It was just as uncomfortable as before. “but spiders have a problem with me. back in my universe, anyway.”

“oh yeah?” Sans climbed onto his motorcycle and Red got on behind him, grabbing onto his jacket after zipping his own up and storing the kitten in the little pocket of space where his ectostomach would've been if his magic wasn't screwed up. He could feel its fur against his bones, but it was a minor inconvenience, as long as it didn't start clawing its way into his chest cavity “why, did you owe your muffet money?”

“no way.” _i wouldn't be here if i did,_ but he didn't bother letting Sans know that. “i accidentally blasted one of her spiders.”

Sans paused in the middle of starting the bike. “ _accidentally_?”

“i didn't realize it was a spider when i saw it crawling up my wall,” Red protested, a little embarrassed because he _had_ overreacted and summoned a Gaster Blaster to deal with it; it took forever to get someone to fix the hole in the wall. In the mean time, he was made to sleep on the couch. If he'd offended anyone else, his brother would've taken the couch and he would've taken Papyrus' bed, but Muffet and her spiders couldn't go into Snowdin without risking their lives, so he was mostly safe. He just had to watch his back more often when he was stationed in Hotland. Muffet wasn't aiming to kill him – her spiders died all the time at the hands of monsters – but he would've been poisoned or something by her freaky family, and that might not have ended so well, even with his extra HP from sleep.

“sure, sure,” Sans laughed. “alright, muffet's didn't take up as much time as i hoped it would, but it's getting pretty late. ready to go back home?”

Red took a moment to think about it as Sans pulled back onto the street, using one hand to adjust the startled animal in his jacket, though he already knew what his answer was.

“yeah.”

Nothing bad had happened this time, and there had been a much more companionable air around them than when they'd been at Grillby's, but he was tired. Probably from the stress of being face-to-face with the double of someone who hated him. Sans sped up a little and Red scooted a little closer, taking the time to soak in the view of the city around him. He wondered if the surface world of his universe was the same way. If there'd be a city this big and this much peace between monsters and humans. His soul sunk as he continued down that path of thought without meaning to, wondering what his brother and the kid were getting up to, and if they were missing him.

. . .

He sighed. Who was he kidding? He brought nothing but trouble for anyone he was associated with.

_**T h e y   w e r e   b e t t e r   o f f   t h i n k i n g   h i m   d e a d . . .** _

  


Red woke with a start when he felt the bike come to a stop. He was practically draped across Sans' back, but the embarrassment he felt was just a twinge compared to the wave of relief that hit him from the fact that he didn't somehow fall off the motorcycle after he passed out.

“you up?”

Red peeled himself off of the leather jacket, rubbing the side of his face. He gently patted the bump in his jacket that the cat was making and got a mewl in response. Its claws were in the fabric, so he didn't bother trying to pull it out yet.

_at least i didn't drool,_ he thought. He had a bad habit of doing that when he slept.

“yeah, 'm awake,” he managed through a yawn. He slid off the bike, taking off his helmet and offering it to Sans, only to have it pushed back towards him.

“keep it,” Sans said. “in case we take the bike again.”

Red's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Was Sans saying...he would be willing to hang out again? But why–

“heh, don't over think it,” Sans commented. “i know you have undyne and al to keep ya busy and all that...” Sans had an expression forming on his face that was suspiciously resembled sheepishness. “...but if you don't hate my guts–” Here he winked. “–we could hang out again.”

Red kind of gaped stupidly at him and Sans chuckled.

“message me on undernet when you make up your mind.”

With a lazy wave, Sans left. Red stood out there for a few more minutes, staring down the dark path that the other skeleton left on until the Lab door slid open and Alphys called out to him. He let her relieved chatter wash over him, joined by Undyne's as soon as they set foot in the door, and he tightened his grip on the helmet when they asked about it, his grin settling into something a little more genuine than it had been since he arrived in this world.

“we patched things up,” was all he said in response.

  


**Omake:**

Frisk ran as fast as they could, even as the damp breeze of Waterfall dissipated around them, turning into acridly hot air that made them begin to sweat.

“Frisk,” Flowey moaned from the bag Papyrus gave them to make carrying him easier. “She's catching up...!”

Frisk didn't dare look back – they didn't have to. They could hear the metal shoes of Undyne's armor crunching over the dried ground of Hotland. Their HP was already lower than they would've liked; they couldn't be caught again.

“We're almost there,” they gasped. They could see the bridge; if they could make it over, they'd be safe. They stopped abruptly when they received a phone call, and the footsteps stopped behind them. When they answered, it was Papyrus. He sounded terrible; he'd been working overtime during the past week, doing his duties as a Royal Guard, taking over the sentry stations that Sans previously ran, and searching for Sans. He requested that Frisk join him so they could go to Undyne's house and ask her more about what happened to Sans. Frisk agreed, of course, and when he hung up, the chase was back on.

Frisk dove forward when Flowey cried out, barely escaping metal claws that were prepared to dig into their shoulder. They hit the ground hard, but rolled to their feet and kept moving. They passed the sentry station and their gaze turned to it almost on instinct, but this time there was no sleeping skeleton to greet them. No, it was empty because Sans was **_gone_**. Frisk didn't falter, though. They raced across the bridge, then skidded to a stop. They doubled over, hands on their knees, as Undyne's footsteps slowly got closer. The first time, the noise had been intimidating, but now Frisk knew what was going to happen.

“Armor... so... hot...” the monster wheezed. “But I can't... give up...”

Frisk straightened and turned around in time to watch the fish woman fall face down, armor rattling loudly on against the wood. Almost on autopilot, Frisk walked over to the conveniently placed water cooler. They filled a cup with water and stood in front of Undyne. In previous runs, they'd always given Undyne the water. But this time, something made them hesitated. Undyne was the one responsible for Sans' disappearance. It was her fault that Papyrus was wearing himself out searching across the whole underground for his brother and losing hope. And yet Papyrus wouldn't attack her because he considered her a friend.

_I could do it,_ Frisk thought dispassionately. _I could make her suffer. Just like I am. Just like Papyrus is. ...just like Sans might be..._

Their hand tightened around the melting cup in their hand, water trickling over the edge and across their fingers, evaporating before it even hit the ground. They could dump all the water from the water cooler onto the ground right before Undyne's eyes...

“Fr-Frisk?” Flowey called, snapping them out of their daze.

With a blank expression, Frisk splashed the water onto Undyne's face, dropping the crushed cup in front of her. They watched the red recede from the Royal Guardsman's face, then turned away from her, continuing towards the Lab. They paused before the entrance, turning and taking the stairs leading down to the river.

“One gold for the trip, young one. **_Fa la la~_** ,” the Riverperson, clad in red, said when Frisk climbed aboard their boat.

Frisk fished a coin out of their pocket and handed it over.

“We're heading to Snowdin,” Flowey said for them.

“Off we go, then.” As the boat started floating down the river, Frisk peered over the edge, watching the water flow. The Riverperson began singing beside them. “ ** _Fa la la~_** _It's off to Hell we go~ Cross you heart and hope to die, it's off to Hell we go~_ ”

The song sent chills down Frisk's spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: I'm sorry if everything after Muffet's seems a little rough (I'm not talking about the peek into Underfell). I had the whole thing written and ready to post when I remembered I was planning on adding a gift into the mix and had to go back to put it in. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter anyway!**   
>  **Red would like to thank Poisoncupcake for the kitten, who is named Crimson. What did he do with it when he returned ot the lab? Well, it's gonna be his little secret at the moment. After all, Doomfanger never liked Undyne. She was too , haha!**   
>  **Also, I'm just going to mention this now for future reference, if you're not just joining this story and haven't seen the minor updates I've made to previous chapters: when I was rewatching a gameplay of Undertale, I noticed that Sans' threatening speeches and such, like the "you'd be dead where you stand" bit and the "human, turn around and shake my hand" part, he uses capital letters at the beginning of those sentences. So if I use capitals in future when Sans or Red are threatening people (or each other), that's why.**


	9. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“geez,” Red mumbled, steam wafting not only from the cracks between his teeth, but his very bones, “this weather is almost as cold as my soul.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: You know you've taken too long of a break from a story when you have to read the whole thing to remind yourself of the timeline and what exactly happened. On the bright side, I was able to spot and fix more grammar errors. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this. I had some IRL problems to deal with and my desire to create plunged. I hope you guys like this chapter; I really tried, but keep in mind that I'm coming out of a slump. I was originally going to make a Thanksgiving chapter, but I missed my chance, so let's all cheer Red on as he begins to work with magic again! Yay! Enjoy.**

Red stepped out of the shower with a grimace, holding a hand up to the crack on his skull. He could hear and feel water moving around in his head. It would evaporate soon, since his bones ran even warmer on the inside than they did on the surface, but it still wasn't a very comfortable feeling. However, that was the first shower he'd taken since getting his bandages taken off three weeks ago. That was step one to getting used to it; the next step was to actually see what it looked like in the mirror. He'd avoided almost all reflective surfaces for weeks now that he didn't have a barrier between the injury and his sight. But he couldn't put it off forever. So he took his time drying off, pulling on a red t-shirt – one of about a dozen shirts that Alphys had ordered online for him – and his shorts, then his jacket. He didn't bother trying to hide his tail, having gotten used to having it out when he was in the safety of the lab, as he approached the mirror. He kept his gaze on the off-white sink, taking a deep breath, and finally looked up.

He started with his teeth. He was still missing a fang, and maybe there was a chance that someone with really strong healing magic can coax another one to start growing, but to be honest, if his visage was gonna be riddled with scars anyway, he'd rather that be a reminder too – a reminder to watch where he stepped next time he blindly walked through the Void. Maybe he's ask Alphys to make good on her offer from so long ago to get him a replacement. He'd always liked watching movies where the cocky bad guys got their gold teeth knocked out; a fake gold tooth would be pretty great. He was pretty much a bad guy compared to the monsters in this world, right? He snorted and continued assessing himself. The crack leading from his mouth to the underside of his eye socket was pretty thin and only really noticeable from up close. Above his eye socket, there were two separate cracks that merged into one and got much wider, wide enough for him to stick a whole finger in and still have room; the gaping crevice extended from the top of his frontal bone to, from what he could feel, the middle of his parietal bone, then it tapered off into a thin crack that made its way down the rest of his skull. There were a few small cracks branching off from that, too, but they likely weren't very visible. All in all, at least he'd finally look like he fit in when he went back in his own world.

“Red?” Alphys called, knocking on the bathroom door.

“i'll be out in a minute,” he said, glancing over himself one more time. He leaned forward, staring into his reflection's eye sockets, and grinned when he noticed a wispy orb of red in the left one. It was practically nonexistent, but it was _there_. He turned from the mirror and left the bathroom.

  


“geez,” Red mumbled, steam wafting not only from the cracks between his teeth, but his very bones, “this weather is almost as cold as my soul.”

He just grinned and adjusted the hat Undyne had given him while Alphys glared at him, shivering fiercely despite the many layers she wore. The surface had just finished its transition from warm weather to cold recently. It wasn't as cold as Snowdin, and there wasn't even any snow on the ground, not that he really felt the cold – it went _right through him_. The leaves of the trees were changing colors like he'd never seen before and he'd taken to spending time sitting outside the lab just to bask in the change of seasons that his world had yet to experience.

“That's the spirit, punk!” Undyne cheered as she punched his shoulder, not noticing his wince as she continued speaking. “Now, I have to go, but make sure you two don't stay out once you get too cold.”

Alphys and Red waved as she climbed into her car and left for work. She'd just come to drop off some warmer clothes for Alphys and the hat Red now had. Once she was out of sight, Alphys turned to him.

“Are you ready?”

He nodded and they started walking down the path that led further into the forest and closer to Mount Ebott. Alphys had recently hit a snag in recreating the phenomenon that brought Red to this world and while she was waiting for Sans to get back to her on whether or not he'd be willing to assist with getting Red home, she decided to run some tests on Red's magical capabilities now that his wounds were nothing more than scars. They'd come across a few decently sized clearings on their walks before, so they merely went to one for the tests.

“Okay.” Alphys pulled her phone out of the pocket of her puffy winter coat as she stood on the other end of the clearing across from him. “We'll start out small. Try calling your magic to the surface.”

It should've been something that came to him easily, like his instincts, but since it'd been a few months since he'd even tried to touch his magic, he had to put a little more thought into it. It was just out of reach – all he had to do was pull it to him, and so he did. There was a crackling sound not only in his hearing, but in his head, too, and it hurt. He heard Alphys yelp just before he dismissed the magic, and for a second he feared that maybe he'd accidentally hurt her somehow, but she was staring at her phone with wide eyes. She quickly crossed the clearing, showing him the short video she'd recorded. In the video, he could see the exact moment when he grasped his magic and forced it to the surface. His left eye socket had been entirely enveloped in a red glow, with magic even smoking out of it. The crevice on his skull had also lit up, but fortunately, there was no magic pouring from there.

“...i think i know what i did wrong,” he decided after watching the video again.

They took their respective places once more and Red pulled on his magic again. The first time he'd done it, he was still thinking of the hint of magic that'd surfaced in his eye socket but could barely be seen, even in the mirror, and all his magic had gone to making it light up. This time, he commanded his magic to concentrate in not only his left eye, but his left hand as well. Alphys' expression was one of awe as she watched a red glow rise to envelope his magic-wielding hand. He hadn't done a lot yet, but he could feel himself beginning to sweat due to the unexpected surge of magic on his first attempt.

“Can you summon anything?” Alphys asked after a few minutes of him dismissing and recalling his magic. “Something small. Maybe just a bone?”

Red didn't usually have the energy to do anything, so when he did, he never did anything by halves. He flicked a finger and two rings of bones exploded out of the ground, one around Alphys and one around himself. Some bones were blue, some were white. He felt a little lightheaded, but using this amount of magic was nothing compared to all the accidental outbursts he'd had when he first gained strong magic. Except his lightheadedness had nothing to do with his magic, apparently, because the next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes to Alphys shaking him desperately.

“st-stop that,” he protested, grabbing her wrists. She was making him nauseous; that wasn't exactly a stellar way to wake up. It kind of reminded him of when his Papyrus wouldn't give him five more minutes to sleep.

“You just passed out!” She pulled him to his feet and he swayed for a moment before rubbing the back of his aching skull. “I told you not to overdo it!”

“it's fine,” he said dismissively. “it's not because of my magic. i have narcolepsy.”

That wasn't the way he wanted to let her know, but it was too late to take it back now. He zoned out as she began scolding him for keeping his condition a secret, looking at the torn up chunks of dirt and grass from where his bones had appeared. It felt good to use his magic, even though he'd have to keep working at it to get back the stamina he once had. If he went home as he was now, his brother would be pissed to have all the progress from their training sessions down the drain.

“...and you're shaking!” Red heard as he finally tuned back into whatever Alphys was saying now.

He glanced down and found that he was indeed trembling, but that was also nothing new. It was just because he was using magic for the first time in so long.

"it's from the cold," he lied. “i'm fine.”

Alphys gave an exasperated sigh.

“If you say so. But we're done for now.”

He decided to agree just because he didn't have the energy to argue, but before she could begin leading the way, he grabbed her sleeve.

“you go on ahead. i'll be right there.”

She gave him a suspicious look, but started walking down the path towards the lab, and once she was out of sight and Red couldn't feel her magic, he called forth his magic once more and summoned something a few things that were much larger than the bones, all of which knocked him on his ass.

“woah, you guys must've missed me, huh?”

The Gaster Blasters growled at him and he scratched the closest one under the jaw. The sound of bone against bone wasn't very pleasant to his (nonexistent) ears because that usually meant he was losing a fight, but in this case, the noise was just a normal part of his life.

Red could summon numerous Gaster Blasters at will, though it drained his magic reserves pretty heavily, but only three were actually sentient in any way. The first was one made from condensed magic rather than actual bone: _Vijaya_. He was the only red Gaster Blaster in Red's arsenal, and when he fired lasers, they had the same effects as blue magic. The next was connected to his soul, his first Gaster Blaster – _Lucida_. He was a normal looking Gaster Blaster, except he was missing one of his fangs and had cracks in his skull now, too. (Red secretly hoped that if he got a fake gold tooth, _Lucida_ would get one as well.) The last one wasn't actually Red's, and he'd never used it in a **FIGHT**. It didn't like to listen to him anyway. Its name was _Aster_ , the very first Gaster Blaster made, and obviously named after its creator. He'd taken it with him when he left the Lab for good. It was larger than the other Gaster Blasters, and had four eyes instead of two, and was around for company more than anything else.

“i'm sorry for keeping your guys shut in for so long.” He gently pushed them away so he could get up, brushing himself off. “i was a little preoccupied.” He reached up and scratched gently around the gaping scar on his skull. _Lucida_ shook himself roughly. “i need you guys to look for some unusual tears in the void when you go back and let me know if you find one.”

 _Vijaya_ gave a confirming noise before Red dismissed them back to the Void. He was even more tired after that stunt, and he didn't really trust himself to step into the Void and not get into trouble again, so he started walking. As he did, he began thinking about the same subject that's been on his mind for more than a few weeks.

  


“al, can you help me get a job?” Red asked later that night.

Alphys was sitting at her desk, looking over the equations that Red had half-heartedly helped her put together for figuring out how to open a pathway from her universe to his. Red was lounging on the couch, the kitten, which Al insisted should be called Cherry, sleeping in his lap.

“Um, s-sure,” Alphys replied, looking over at him. “Why?”

“because i'm stuck here, doing nothing, and who knows how long it's going to take for me to go home.” He scratched Cherry behind its ear, listening to it purr. It reminded him of Doomfanger. Of course, that fat animal wasn't like that towards _him_ , but rather his brother.

“Okay. I-if I can't find anything, I'll ask Sans.”

Red didn't want to work with Sans, even though they patched things up. He could only handle being in the company of himself for so long – being around his double all day would be even worse, he was sure, and he probably wouldn't last long in that job. However, he probably also couldn't afford to be picky, so he nodded.

“alright.”

He folded his free arm behind his head, closing his eye sockets as he let the sounds of the tv station and Alphys' pen on paper wash over him. He didn't know when he fell asleep.

  


_Red didn't know where he was at first. Everything around him was encompassed in shadows – or rather, nothingness, which pressed in one him in a suffocating manner. The Void. He found it hard to breathe and he allowed himself to collapse on his tailbone, bowing his head between his knees and forcing his pseudolungs to work._

_"̶̢̡͢O̡҉͜h̴͡͝ ̕͠҉͝Ş̧͞a͢͝͏ņ̸͟͜ş̴̢͘͡.͟͜.̨͝.̶̢͢͠"̴͢_

_The faint, rough voice right beside him caused him to stiffen – out of fear, out of anger, or perhaps even some other emotion, he couldn't tell. His mind was growing foggy and he felt like he was choking. Long, thin fingers curled over his shoulders, grounding him before he could sink into a panic attack._

_"̶͠͡͞͝S̴͘͝͏h̨̨h̸̛͜͢.̷̨̡̕.̴̨͞.̨ ̷̕͢͜͞ ̸҉̶Y̨o҉̸͞u̸͏ ͟͏̸s̵͘͢͡h̴̶̨͜͠o̷̕͘͞͏u̷̴l̸̸̸̴d̛n̸̴͟͠'̷͘͜͜t̵͝͏ ̸̡͝b̡͝e҉ ̶̨͟͟h̡͞e̶͘r̕e̕͏̸͜.̵̶̢̢͠"̷͘̕͡ The speaker sounded worried and irritated at the same time. "̶̢̕I҉̨̧̛͢ ̸̧̧a҉̵̡͠ļm̶̢̕o̡͢͝͞s̴̨҉t͏̶͜ ̷̨͠҉c҉̢͟͡ǫ҉u҉͞l̷͢҉d҉҉̧̡n͢͠'̧̛t̶̸̷̕ ̸̵͡f̢͜i̸̴̧n̶d̨ ̷̡͟y̧͘͡o̵u͏̨̛͘.̵̢ ̴̡ ̶̡͝Y͏̵̴̨͠o̶̡͞ư͘͜͠ ̕n̶͘͟͜e̵̵͘͢e͡d̡̛͞ ̨͢t̷͟o̴̧̨͜ ̧̕҉l̸̨̢̨ȩ͝͏a̛̕͝v̶̷̢̨ę͞ ̡̢̛̕b̡͡e͟͟͠f̶̛o̸҉̴͟r̵͝e͘҉̶͠͞ ̧̛_ **h̸̨͢͏e̴̷͜** _̛͟͠͠c̢̡o̶͘͟m̴̕ę̛͝s̨.̶̕͢͠"̡͜_

_Red was pulled to his feet just as he began to grasp who exactly was talking to him. He turned just as he was shoved roughly off balance. He caught a glimpse of four glowing red eye lights and sharp teeth before the Void whisked him away_ and he woke up, breathing hard with magic pulsating in his eye socket. The tv was off, Alphys was nowhere in sight, and Cherry was purring softly on his ribcage. He took a moment to calm himself, chilled _to the bone_ with cold sweat, before he settled into an uneasier sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Fun fact – Red used to called _Aster_ 'Dings' on accident, and he could never figure out why.**   
>  **Also, you guys, do you think Red should work with Muffet, Grillby, or Asgore? Or all three, since Sanses are notorious for working multiple jobs? Let me know in the comments!**


	10. Worked To The Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The first job Alphys managed to find for him was, in fact, working under the (former) King of all Monsters._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: I finally got internet back! Time to celebrate by posting my newest chapter! So, in the end, I decided that it's just in a Sans' nature to get more than one job just in case they need the money that comes from them, right? So Red has indeed gotten multiple jobs. Good luck to him! Enjoy.**

The first job Alphys managed to find for him was, in fact, working under the (former) King of all Monsters. At first, Red vehemently refused, and he knew she was confused by his reaction, but he didn't want to explain anything to her. How could he tell her the kind of “job” he had working for his _own_ king? But when she mentioned that Papyrus was working with him, Red faltered. After all, Sans wouldn't let Papyrus do anything remotely close to being a Judge, right? It couldn't be all that bad if _Papyrus_ was spending his free time working there, so Red reluctantly agreed.

When he actually got to the King and Papyrus' workplace, he was beginning to regret his decision again. It was a fucking _flower shop_. Red didn't do flowers (unless they were Echo Flowers). But as soon as he stepped outside of Undyne's car, Papyrus was rushing out the single glass door, a dirt-stained apron tied around his waist and a large grin on his face. (Humans probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a skeleton monster's permasmile and an _actual_ smile.) He looked so happy to see Red, and Red decided that maybe the job wouldn't be quite so bad if someone would actually be glad to see him there on an almost-daily basis.

“Red! I'm so glad you decided to come work with me! I'm sure Asgore will be pleased to finally meet you!”

As Papyrus guided him into the shop and Undyne drove away, Red was struck with a pang of nervousness.

“uh, 'finally'?”

Papyrus nodded. “I've told Asgore all about you since I met you!”

Considering Papyrus didn't actually know much about Red, the shorter skeleton wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Red was suddenly glad that he was still wearing the hat Undyne had given him to hide the scars, because Alphys refused to let him wear his heavy jacket to a “greenhouse,” whatever that was. So he was just dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, since he'd have to be out in the cold for a long time for the weather to actually effect him. (Though, the temperature made his scars ache.)

When Papyrus and Red stepped inside, Red was hit with a wave of heat. He guessed the sources were from the heater sitting in a corner, glowing orange, and the open door in the back that led to a separate room filled with more varieties of plants than Red had ever seen, even in books.

“King Asgore! Red is here!” Papyrus announced loudly, so suddenly that Red flinched.

Fortunately, Papyrus either ignored it or didn't notice. (Red could never be sure; Papyrus acted like an airhead sometimes, but if he was anything like Red's brother...) His train of thought was forcefully derailed when Asgore emerged from the back room.

This world's Asgore was as large as the king from Red's home, though that was to be expected of Boss Monsters. Big size, lots of magic. Though, Red had to admit that this Asgore was already a lot less intimidating with his blond hair and brown eyes in comparison to the brown hair and red eyes Red was used to seeing. Plus, he was pretty sure he'd never seen his Asgore smile at _anyone_ , much less strangers, and this Asgore was also wearing khakis and a flowery shirt.

“Welcome to our little shop, Red,” Asgore said. “My name is Asgore. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

He offered a hand and Red tried not to envision his bones being crushed to dust as he shook it, but Asgore was very careful not to squeeze too hard.

 _of fucking course; he's a big softy like everyone else._ Despite the sarcasm in his own thoughts, he was immensely relieved to know he didn't really have to fear anything from this monster. Of course, he'd still be extremely careful not to get on his bad side. Just in case.

For the first day, Red mostly just stayed behind the counter with Papyrus and watched him interact with customers, helping them find the flowers they needed and sending them on their way with smiles on their faces – even the ones who had balked at the sight of two living skeletons in a flower shop soon had their perspectives turned about by Papyrus' kindness. Red had to admit, Papyrus was made for this kind of job. But alas, Papyrus only worked in the flower shop a few days a week due to his other job as a police officer(-in-training), so Red would eventually end up working in the shop with only Asgore for company. Asgore tended to remain in the greenhouse to avoid scaring off customers with his size, though, according to Papyrus. (Plus, he was understandably not too popular with some humans due to the fact that he was responsible for the death of multiple human children in the past.)

For the most part, the flower shop was quiet and empty besides the monsters working in it. Papyrus explained that humans didn't often have a need for flowers in the cold weather, but once spring came, there would be a lot more people. Red nodded, taking in this information silently, but his mind was a mess of thoughts. The most prominent was that once spring was over and summer returned, Red will have been stuck in this world for pretty much a whole year. That put a dampener on his thus-far-steadfast good mood, but he hid behind his permagrin so he wouldn't worry Papyrus. (And yet he couldn't do anything to soothe his own brother's possible concern about his whereabouts, and that thought made it harder to keep his grin in place.)

His shift ended early in the evening, around two, and as much as Red just wanted to go back to the lab and sleep, it was now time to get to his _second_ job. Apparently when Sans had overheard that Red was looking for work, he suggested Grillby, and when Alphys asked the fire elemental, he agreed to let Red help out. His only warning was that his restaurant stayed open late, but late hours had never been a problem for Red before thanks to his spotty sleeping schedule. Grillby's actually wasn't all that far from Asgore's quaint little shop, even on foot, so Red said farewell to Papyrus and headed out.

When he got to the restaurant, he used the side entrance in the alley that Grillby told him would be unlocked and after traveling through the warming-up kitchen (which he knew would soon enough be hot enough that touching any surfaces besides the floors would cause major burning, even for skinless monsters like himself), he stepped through the “fire exit” and into the actual bar area. Grillby was already setting up tables and Red hurried to help him.

 _“It's good to see you again, Red,”_ Grillby signed, and Red was rather proud of himself for more or less understanding him.

“you too, grillby. thanks for giving me a job.”

The fire elemental just smiled. Between the two of them, the tables were set up fairly quickly and Grillby unlocked the front door, turning on the main lights so everyone knew he was open. As they waited for their first customers, Grillby ran a clothes over the counter (unnecessarily) and Red picked at old chips in his phalanges, careful not to go too deep and draw bone marrow. About ten minutes after the official opening for the night, monsters started entering the building and as they filled the various chairs, they began to talk amongst each other. Red glanced up at Grillby as the chatter became low background noise, but the taller monster just began wiping down already-clean glasses. (Red's Grillby once told him that he did that when he had nothing to do just so he could look cool, like the bartenders in those old Western or Mafia movies – the strong and silent types. Red wondered if this Grillby was the same.)

After a while, a couple monsters raised their hands and called out to Grillby. Red looked at his boss again, and when he received a nod, he walked out from around the bar, making his way to the closest table, which was where the ex-Royal Guard dog monsters were seated. Red was admittedly a little nervous about approaching them, seeing as the dog monsters in his world liked to chase him for sport. He had to have Papyrus retrieve his torn-off tibula more times than he'd like to count. There were five dogs seated at the table – while in Red's universe, Lesser Dog had been dusted in a fight quite some time ago – and Doggo was the first to notice him. (They all had pretty bad eye sight, but Doggo's was noticeably worse than the others'.)

“Sans...?” he uttered, squinting at the sweating skeleton – or rather, in his general direction, now that he wasn't moving anymore.

“Sans!” the others cried, looking down at him.

“uh...”

“No, you're not Sans,” Dogamy said after a brief pause, sniffing the air, then leaning closer abruptly enough to make him flinch and Doggo's eyes lock on him again. 

_“Who are you, pup?”_ Dogaressa asked kindly, also leaning towards him.

Her manner of addressing him reminded him of his own Dogaressa, who also referred to anyone younger than herself as 'pup'.

“'m red. grillby's letting me work for him.” he replied. “i'm a...friend...of sans'.” He could've smacked himself for how hesitant his words were, but the dog monsters accepted it with friendly greetings and introductions of their own, tails wagging, and let him take their orders to Grillby, who gave him a subtle thumbs up before he moved onto the next group of monsters.

Besides the dog monsters, none of the patrons in Grillby's mistook him for Sans. Some of them even regarded him a little suspiciously, and he couldn't really blame them. Most monsters of this world, he found, were pretty friendly looking; even the exceptions, like Undyne and Big Mouth, had kind ( _aggressively_ kind, in Undyne's case) personalities. Meanwhile, Red looked as out-of-place as he actually was (and felt), with his dark clothes and single-working eye light. It didn't help that he was a _skeleton_ , a “harbinger of death” on the surface, with fangs and visible scars and claws. However, even the monsters who were visibly uneasy around him were courteous and kind. He kind of wished his world's monsters were more like that.

  


Grillby's closed around two in the morning. Once all of the patrons left, calling goodbyes to both Grillby and Red, the skeleton stuck around to help Grillby clean up. Grillby swept while Red use his magic to pick up chairs – he had to practice managing his magic again at some point, and Alphys suggested starting with smaller objects; chairs probably weren't what she meant, but... When they were done, Red followed Grillby out the front door and waiting he locked the door behind them. Then, before Red could say bye for the night, Grillby turned towards him and offered him a small bag that sort of jingled as it was moved – gold.

 _“I don't usually have someone working with me,”_ he explained before Red could decline the offer. _“Sometimes there's Sans or Papyrus, or kids who want to wash dishes for quick pay. I always pay them at the end of the day for their work, even if they work consecutive days.”_

Red couldn't confirm if Grillby was telling the truth, since he didn't technically know anything about him, but the explanation made sense, to he accepted the pay.

“thanks, grillbz.”

The nickname slipped out on accident, but Grillby didn't appear to mind, eyes crinkling in a smile-effect.

_“Will you be alright getting back to Alphys' on your own?”_

“oh yeah,” Red said, waving his hand. “i got it covered. g'night, grillby.”

_“Goodnight, Sans.”_

Red could tell from the slight widening of the fire monster's eyes that Grillby hadn't meant to call him that, but he was already in the midst of a shortcut, so he didn't stick around to let Grillby correct himself. oops. Red appeared in the middle of the kitchen in Alphys' lab, head swimming from the thin* shortcut (but no way was he taking his time when that's how he ended up in an alternate universe), but feeling...oddly refreshed. He had gotten used to his nickname, but...it was nice to be called by his real name, even if it was on accident.

He wasn't hungry, having already eaten during his shift at Grillby's (and feeling slightly nauseous from the shortcut), so he had nothing to do except go to bed. He was careful to be quiet as he retreated to his room, where Cherry was already curled up on his pillow, and he stripped quickly, keeping his tail raised so it didn't hit the floor and possibly wake someone. He crawled into bed, curling under the blankets and falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow by his kitten.

  


The next morning, he woke up as the alarm he set on his phone went off. He shut it off and held his breath, listening. It appeared that Alphys wasn't up yet, though Cherry was giving him a disgruntled look from where it was laying next to the part of his tail poking out from beneath the blanket.

“sorry,” he whispered placatingly, amused by the tiny glare that appeared to be on the animal's face.

He got up and pulled on boxers, in case he was absolutely wrong about Alphys not being up, then gathered clothes for a shower. He fed Cherry before going into the bathroom. Showers never took long, especially since he didn't have to worry about body odor, but his bones did become sort of grimy-looking because of sweat and dirt. Plus, he was going to be working for _Muffet_ every other day, when he wasn't in Asgore's flower shop, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate him smelling of old magic and mustard. (She probably wasn't homicidal like his Muffet, but that didn't make her any less intimidating; just _thinking_ of being in the same building as her for hours was enough to make his bones rattle.) He took his time drying off, then dressed in his usual shorts and the turtleneck that Alphys had given him when he first came to her world, since that was the most “professional” piece of clothing he owned. He used a sleeve to wipe steam off of the mirror, using his reflection as a guide to adjust his hat so it covered as much of his scar as it could. When he was done, he dropped his gaze and drew his soul out.

**1 ATK**

**1 DEF**

**7/1 HP**

His HoPe wasn't nearly as high as it had been in his own world after an undisturbed night's rest, but at least he wouldn't dust in one hit if he happened to stumble into a **FIGHT** and screwed up. Pushing his soul back into his ribcage, Red left the bathroom, almost tripping over Cherry, who decided to sprawl in front of the door.

“i'll see ya later,” he whispered, crouching to scratch the kitten's chin and smiling slightly at its purr. “don't cause al too much grief.”

Then he stood and stepped through the Void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: *Okay. So in my mind, there are two versions of shortcuts. There's the normal one, where Sanses (and some Papyri) stroll through the Void and exit at their destination, with barely a few seconds having passed because time doesn't technically exist within the Void. Then there's Thin, or Quick, Shortcuts, where they literally teleport. It's still stepped through the Void, but it's like using a slingshot to get from Point A to Point B. That takes more energy than a normal shortcut, so it's usually only used in emergency or during FIGHTs.**

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: You can come and join me in tumblr, too. I reblog a lot more than just Undertale, as a warning: lazyninjaphilosopher . Also, I have a Undertale (and AUs) headcanon blog I lazily post on, if you wanna take a look: multiversehc . Anyway, let me know if you liked this!**


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